Biopharma’s 2025 M&A boom

admin March 23, 2026No Comments

Even with Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) $14.6bn buyout of Intra-Cellular Therapies in January setting a strong deal-making tone, 2025 still delivered a few surprises.

A bidding war between Pfizer and Novo Nordisk for weight loss drug developer Metsera caught investor attention due to its rare occurrence. Genmab joined big pharma in the top ten M&A deals despite being a biotech. In addition, another league-topping deal for a neuroscience specialist indicated the commercial prospects of central nervous system (CNS) pipelines.

With less than a month of 2025 to go, data already shows a significant jump in deal value compared to 2024. What acted as M&A fuel this year, and what could be in store in 2026?

2025’s tail-heavy deals

The largest M&A this year was Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) buyout of neuroscience specialist Intra-Cellular Therapies for $14.6bn. The deal strengthened J&J’s neuroscience portfolio with Caplyta – a drug already FDA-approved for schizophrenia and bipolar depression.

Importantly, J&J is now marketing Caplyta for major depressive disorder (MDD) after FDA approval late in 2025, expanding its addressable market significantly since MDD affects far more patients than schizophrenia alone. Analysts expect Caplyta could become a multi-billion-dollar product (with estimates of ~$5bn in annual sales under J&J), giving a powerful revenue driver to the company’s neuroscience unit.

Compared to the largest deals exclusively between two biopharma companies, it is on par with Bristol Myers Squibb’s $14bn takeover of Karuna Therapeutics in 2024.

However, when comparing across the board of pharma M&A activity, 2025 has outperformed the previous year.

“Overall deal value is up, but the volume’s down. That’s an indication that the deal sizes have gone up. The average deal size now is nearly at about $1.9bn-$2bn mark, which is significantly higher than full year 2024,” says EY LifeSciences global deals leader Subin Baral.

Although J&J’s deal for Intra-Cellular Therapies occurred early in the year, much of the M&A activity unfolded in a surge in the second half of 2025. US President Donald Trump, who assumed office in January, created market volatility with the imposition of tariffs and drug pricing reforms. As a result, many pharma companies opted to steer clear of significant acquisitions.

Continue at: https://pharma.nridigital.com/pharma_jan26/biopharmas-2025-ma-boom-dealmaking-surges-as-patent-pressures-intensify

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