A relatively quiet month for life sciences M&A, though with some interesting deals announced for Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie and GSK. We cover these below, but also flag a few predictions for how the next six months might play out. The momentum for the sector remains strong with good competition for quality assets, and at an earlier stage some fantastic fundraises from Foresite Capital ($900m) and J.P. Morgan launching its inaugural biotech fund ($500m).
- JNJ’s acquisition of Yellow Jersey brings it a clinical stage asset in atopic dermatitis. A spin-out from Numab Therapeutics, JNJ has agreed to buy the bispecific antibody asset for $1.25bn. The acquisition comes hot on the heels of its agreements to acquire Proteologix and Ambrx, as part of its search for new products as Stelara comes off patent.
- Abbvie agreed to acquire Celsius Therapeutics for $250m to bolster its immunology pipeline, giving it a Phase 2 ready antibody asset for IBD. Similar to JNJ, Abbvie is on the quest to find new blockbusters with Humira having come off patent relatively recently and its announced acquisition of Landos in March, and Cerevel and Immunogen last year.
- Finally, GSK announced its agreement to acquire Elsie Biotechnologies in San Diego with a view to bolstering its oligonucleotide pipeline. This is the second acquisition for GSK following Aiolos in January this year.
Going forward, we’re expecting the upswing for M&A in the sector to continue for the second half of the year. In particular we think there will be:
- a continued focus on clinical (or later) stage assets with a view to bolstering pharma pipelines
- on the whole, a further drive towards therapies and modalities aimed at addressing larger patient populations
- an emphasis on private company M&A given the quality and depth of venture backed and venture created companies over the past few years.
Let us know what you think, and if you’d like to talk to us about any of this, let us know!
