Six $1bn+ alliances were penned in May. In the top alliance by deal value, AC Immune SA granted Takeda an option to license exclusive global rights to active immunotherapies targeting toxic forms of amyloid beta, including ACI-24.060 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. AC Immune will receive $100m up front and is eligible to receive an option exercise fee and additional potential development, commercial and sales-based milestones of up to approximately $2.1bn, plus sales royalties.

Seven $1bn+ alliances were penned in April. In the top alliance by deal value, Medincell entered a collaboration with AbbVie to co-develop and commercialize up to six therapeutic products across multiple therapeutic areas and indications. Medincell will receive a $35m upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $1.9bn in development and commercial milestones, plus mid-single to low-double-digit royalties on net sales.

During Q1, biopharma merger and acquisition deal value reached $37bn, while the potential deal value from alliances was $38.5bn. Device company M&A values reached $3.6bn, while in vitro diagnostics and research tools players’ M&A activity totaled $1bn.

During Q1, biopharmas brought in an aggregate $30.1bn in financing and device company fundraising totaled $2.8bn; while in vitro diagnostic firms and research tools players raised $724m.

Two $1bn+ alliances were penned in March. In the top alliance by deal value, Merus NV will use its Triclonics anitbody platform to discover new dual tumor-associated antigens targeting trispecific antibodies for Gilead Sciences. Merus will lead early-stage research activities for two programs, with an option to pursue a third. Gilead will have the right to license programs developed under the collaboration after the completion of select research activities. If Gilead exercises its option to license any such program from the collaboration, Gilead will be responsible for additional research, development and commercialization activities for such program. The deal could be worth up to $1.5bn for Merus.

Just one $1bn+ alliance was penned in February, compared to ten in the previous month. In the top alliance by deal value, Neomorph and Novo Nordisk entered into a potential $1.46bn agreement for the discovery, development, and commercialization of molecular glue degraders (MGDs) for cardiometabolic and rare diseases. The collaboration brings together Novo Nordisk's expertise in those disease areas with Neomorph's MGD discovery platform. Neomorph will lead discovery and preclinical activities against selected targets with Novo Nordisk having the right to exclusively pursue further clinical development and commercialization of the compounds.