Major Biopharma M&A Deals in Q1 2024
After enduring subdued markets in 2023 following an earlier boom, biotech market sentiment showed signs of improvement in early 2024, and M&A activity was one visible sign of that. Source
The year got off to a strong start with 4 of the ten deals shown being announced on January 8–9, during JPM week.
The ten targets shown include six public companies and four private companies.
Among the targets which were public, Harpoon Therapeutics and Ambrx had acquisition premiums of 118% and 105% respectively over their January 5, 2024 closing prices.
Among private targets, GSK's acquisition of Aiolos Bio was particularly notable, given the company launched publicly in October 2023 with a monster $245M Series A, less than three months before GSK announced the acquisition in January 2024.
The comparison covers selected drug-developer acquisitions announced between January 1 and March 31, 2024; closing dates are separate. Values exclude contingent milestones and are not a measure of cash paid during the quarter. MorphoSys’s €2.7 billion offer is approximately $2.9 billion at the February 5 announcement-date exchange rate. Cardior’s announced price was up to €1.025 billion including milestones, with no separate upfront figure disclosed, so it is not ranked against disclosed upfront values. Nuvation’s all-stock AnHeart acquisition is a separate form of consideration: at Nuvation’s March 22, 2024 closing price of $2.31, the roughly 113 million shares issued were worth approximately $260 million, while Nuvation’s acquisition accounting valued them at about $364 million using the $3.23 closing-date price.
One notable feature of these deals was buyers' willingness to pay premiums for assets that could expand their pipelines. Johnson & Johnson highlighted Ambrx's antibody-drug conjugate technology, while AstraZeneca's Fusion acquisition added radioconjugate programmes and development capabilities.
Overall, M&A activity, fundraising, and public market performance in Q1 showed positive signs. William Blair's Q1 2024 review reported a 6.3% quarterly gain for the XBI and six biopharma IPOs raising $1.3 billion. Source