Life sciences M&A roundup: October 2024

We have seen a general plateauing of biotech M&A in the last few months, but we've kept tabs on a few deals of note in October, keeping alive hopes of the usual busy fourth quarter. This relative quiet spell, particularly in the public markets (private has been a little more buoyant), may be driven by the upcoming US election but some uncertainty remains among commentators as to the rationale. On the investment side, we are still seeing consolidation and some very large financings but the number of financings is down with investors deploying capital more slowly and deliberately. It was great to see Munich-based 415 Capital raise a EUR150M second fund to focus on cardiovascular and neurovascular diseases. 

On the deals:

Neuroscience and oncology remain hot at the moment and several of the major deals this month focused in this space:

• AbbVie acquiring Aliada Therapeutics for USD1.4 billion in cash to boost their Alzheimer's pipeline with a phase 1 anti-amyloid antibody drug.

• Lundbeck acquiring Longboard Pharmaceuticals for USD2.6 billion total transaction value for their late stage (phase 3) asset bexicaserin which targets epilepsy. 

• Merck agreeing to buy Modifi Bio for USD30m upfront but potential of up to USD1.3 billion in milestone payments and reported to be predominantly for a preclinical asset designed to treat brain cancer glioblastoma (GBM). 

• Lyell Immunopharma's acquisition of ImmPACT Bio also for USD30 million upfront cash and a similar amount of stock is also notable and builds up its pipeline on CAR T-cell therapy. 

In medical devices, the Hologic, Inc. acquisition of Gynesonics, Inc. for USD350 million for their minimally invasive incision free device for a range of women's health procedures caught our attention.

There was a lot of reverse merger activity in the oncology/immune-oncology space with Kintara/TuHURA, NAYA/Invo, Crescent/Glycometrics and Reneo Pharma/OnKure all announcing in the last couple of weeks. 

As for capital markets, a handful of IPOs priced in October but the market was largely quiet. We expect this to change after the dust hopefully settles on whatever outcome of the US election arrives next week. All eyes really are on that at the moment. 

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