M&As and Partnerships from JPM HealthCare Conference 2025

There are plenty of deal-makings either MAs or partnerships in various ways during and after the JPM Healthcare conference 2025. Due to other needed priorities, I missed the opportunity going with my team to the conference but now after reading many reports and announcements made public, it's a good exercise for me to delve into it and analyze the underlying logics or trends out of those deals as a value investor. For that matter, I decided to make a three-part series to break down my observations and processing: Part 1 as this one focusing on the deals made; 2nd the drugs being presented with any expediated pathways or potentials of having one (fast track, breakthrough, accelerated approvals, or ODD); 3rd how the business deal making is related to these expediated programs.

Let's get into it and walk through the big money deals - MAs first.

Johnson & Johnson has announced a major deal to acquire Intra-Cellular Therapeutics for $14.6 billion, representing the biggest biopharmaceutical acquisition in recent years, primarily driven by the potential of Intra-Cellular's schizophrenia and bipolar depression drug, Caplyta, which currently generates significant revenue and is projected to reach peak sales of $5 billion; this acquisition also brings in Intra-Cellular's pipeline of other neurological drugs currently under development for conditions like Parkinson's disease and opioid addiction.

Eli Lilly is acquiring Scorpion Therapeutics’ cancer drug candidate STX-478 in a $2.5 billion deal. This expands their oncology portfolio. The drug targets the PI3Kα gene mutations, which are involved in aggressive cancers like breast, gynecological, and head/neck. The acquisition positions Lilly in the growing PI3Kα inhibitor market, projected to grow at 31% CAGR until 2030, reaching $3.4 billion in annual sales by then.

Gilead Sciences struck a deal with $1.7 billion acquisition of LEO Pharma by Gilead, the focus on the oral STAT6 program for inflammatory diseases, the potential competition with Sanofi’s Dupixent (which made $14.2 billion in 2024), and Gilead’s strategic shift away from cancer and anti-infectives, which are 98% of their 2025 revenue.

Besides MAs, there are quite a few notable business deals, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions mentioned from various channels after the conference which I listed below and broke down by the company market cap. On a separate note, even the sheer deal number of those deals below maybe not that large compared to the MAs, the milestone payments and accrued royalties will mount up and eventually may bear more "fruits". Those smaller deal are more popular and common to see as they are more alike pay-as-you-go phone plan :p where risk-return dissipated proportionally and commensurate between partners across different development stages.

Mega Cap Companies

1. AbbVie Acquired?Nimble Therapeutics?(oral peptide platform). Co-developed?Epkinly/Tepkinly?(bispecific antibody) with Genmab.
2. AstraZeneca Joint development of?Datroway?(antibody-drug conjugate) with?Daiichi Sankyo.
3. Merck & Co. Acquired?EyeBio?for $3 billion (Restoret for macular diseases). Global development agreement with?Daiichi Sankyo?for?MK-6070?(SCLC). Licensing agreement with?Hansoh Pharma?for?HS-10535?(GLP-1 agonist).
4. Novartis Completed?over 30 M&A deals?in the past two years (e.g.,?Kate Therapeutics?for siRNA).

Large Cap Companies

1. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Collaboration with?Sanofi?for a product approval in 2025.
2. Genmab Co-developed?Epkinly/Tepkinly?with AbbVie. Co-developed?Tivdak?with?Pfizer. Acquired?ProfoundBio?(ADC?Rina-S). Ended collaboration with?BioNTech, transferred?acasunlimab?to Biogen.
3. GSK Acquired?IDRx?(oncology asset?IDRX-42?for GIST). Partnered with?CureVac?(mRNA vaccines) and?Elsie Biotechnologies?(oligonucleotides).
4. Incyte Partnered with?Syndax?for?Niktimvo?(monoclonal antibody).
5. Pfizer Acquired?Seagen?for $43 billion (oncology ADCs).
6. Sandoz Launched biosimilars in partnership with?Amgen?(denosumab) and others.
7. Teva Pharmaceutical Co-developing?duvalxituq?(anti-TL1A) with?Sanofi.

Mid Cap Companies

1. Avidity Biosciences Collaborations with?Arrowhead?for siRNA programs (e.g.,?ARO-DUX4).
2. BridgeBio Partnership for?Attruby?(acoramidis) regulatory approvals in Europe/Japan.
3. Cytokinetics Marketing partnerships with?Bayer?(Japan) and?Sanofi?(China) for?aficamten.
4. Exelixis Collaboration with?Merck?(Keytruda combo trials) and?Sairopa?(anti-SIRPα antibody).
5. Inspire Medical Systems Partnered with?Medtronic?for manufacturing scale-up.
6. Madrigal Therapeutics Licensing agreements for?Rezdiffra?(resmetirom) in Europe.
7. Nuvalent Collaborations for?zidesamtinib?and?neladalkib?development.
8. Recursion Merged with?Exscientia; partnerships with?Roche,?Bayer,?Sanofi, and?Merck KGaA.
9. Roivant Pharma Licensing deals for?IMVT-1402?(FcRn inhibitor) and?Brepocitinib?(TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor).
10. Telix Pharmaceutical Acquired?QSAM Biosciences?(radiopharmaceuticals) and?ARTMS1/IsoTherapeutics.

Small Cap Companies

1. AbCellera Biologics Expanded partnership with?AbbVie?(T-cell engagers). Collaboration with?Eli Lilly?(COVID antibodies).
2. Akero Therapeutics In-licensed?efruxifermin?from?Amgen.
3. Arcturus Therapeutics Partnership with?CSL?(COVID/flu vaccines) and?Meiji Group?(Japan commercialization).
4. Caribou Biosciences Collaboration with?BeiGene?for?CB-010?(CAR-T) in China.
5. C4 Therapeutics Partnered with?Betta Pharmaceuticals?(China development of?CFT8919).
6. Immunome Licensing agreement for?varegacestat?(gamma secretase inhibitor).
7. Lexeo Therapeutics Licensed?LX2006?(FA cardiomyopathy therapy) from?Cornell University.
8. Protagonist Therapeutics Partnered with?Takeda?(rusfertide) and?Johnson & Johnson?(icotrokinra).
9. Zymeworks Partnered with?Jazz Pharmaceuticals?for?Ziihera?(zanidatamab).

Micro Cap Companies

1. Akebia Therapeutics Collaborations for?Vafseo?(vadadustat) market access.
2. Amneal Pharmaceuticals Licensing deals for?CREXONT?(Parkinson’s) and biosimilars.
3. Annexon Biosciences Partnership with?Alexion?(complement therapeutics).
4. Precigen Licensed?PRGN-2012?(RRP therapy) from?Jemincare.
5. RAPT Therapeutics Licensed?RPT904?(omalizumab biosimilar) from?Jemincare.
6. Rigel Pharmaceuticals Partnered with?Lilly?(RIPK1 inhibitors).
7. Sage Therapeutics Commercial partnership with?Biogen?for?Zurzuvae.

Based on the publicly available information, I tried my best to capture all strategic collaborations, acquisitions, licensing agreements, and co-development efforts among those companies. In my next post, I will take a step further and look into the expediated programs each drugs have obtained or with potentials to have.