Life sciences M&A roundup: November 2024

Another interesting month for Life Sciences M&A with deals consolidating themes around cell and gene therapies, big patient populations, AI and China, and an interesting move from Novo in the bio economy space. As we build towards the end of the calendar year we are expecting a few extra announcements from others, with more to follow no doubt at JPM. All against a backdrop of more promising news in the fundraising space with Venrock adding US$500 million to its healthcare investment pool. Sarah Cole and Ross McNaughton dig in below.

BioNTech SE/Biotheus Inc (US$950 million, Europe and Asia): in a bid to boost its oncology platform, BioNtech has acquired Biotheus, a clinical stage drug discovery company developing a next-generation bispecific antibody, for US$800 million upfront. The acquisition follows the licence agreement between the companies in 2023 giving BioNtech the right to commercialise Biotheus' lead candidate ex-PRC, giving BioNtech worldwide rights and access to Biotheus's pipeline candidates and in-house ADC capability. This is another interesting deal involving PRC, a definite emerging theme throughout the past 12 – 24 months despite anti-trust and regulatory headwinds. 

Novartis/Kate Therapeutics (US$1.1 billion, USA and Switzerland): Novartis' acquisition of Kate Therapeutics is set to bolster their gene therapy and #neuroscience pipelines, bringing it a platform and assets focused on  developing AAV-based gene therapies to treat genetically defined neuromuscular disease. Funded through a US$51 million Series A from last summer and licensing deal with Astellas, this is likely to provide a healthy return for Kate Tx's investor base. 

Roche/Poseida Therapeutics Inc (US$1 billon, USA): Roche announced its agreement to acquire Poseida Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotech advancing allogenic cell therapies with a pipeline including investigational allogenic CAR-T cell therapies for hematologic cancers, autoimmune diseases and solid tumours.

Tempus AI/Ambry Genetics (US$600 million, US): in further consolidation in the AI in healthcare space, Tempus AI, reached agreement to acquire Ambry, a specialist in hereditary cancer screening in a part-cash, part-shares deal. 

Finally, away from pure play life sciences, Novo Holdings was in the news with its announcement of a food sustainability acquisition to buy Benchmark Genetics, a company focusing on fish genetics, for up to GBP260 million. Benchmark Genetic provides genomics tools to help aquaculture producers increase quality, yield, health and animal welfare. 

As ever, please reach out if you want to chat or have any questions about these topics.