Healthy returns: biotech and pharma m & a is off to a good start in 2025 – but will it last?

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I’m back in new york city after spending a week in san francisco for the annual Jpmorgan health care conference – The largest gathering in the us of biotech and pharma execution, investors and analysts (and health reports, of courses).

The week featured questions about the Incoming Trump Administration, Updates on Business Outlooks and Drug Portfolios, Heightened Security on the GROUND and, for the first time in recent memory, sannyth Co.

The news kept coming all week, even after the conference ended mid-day-thursday. The biden administration on Friday Announced the next 15 drugs Included in Medicare Price Negotiations, which include Novo Nordisk‘S Blockbuster Diabetes Drug OzEMPIC and its obesity counterpart wegovy.

But after companies announced a handful of deals last week, I’ll zero in on some takeaays for m & a activity in the industry in 2025.

M & A appears to be off to a good start this year. But the question is whather it will last.

Some of the deals announced during the conference boosted optimism, particularly Johnson & Johnson‘s proposed $ 14.6 Billion Buyout of INTRA-Cellular TherapiesThat appears to be the biggest transaction we’ve seen in the pharmaceutical industry since 2023. That agreement came amid a wave of smaller deals from GSK, Eli Lilly and lesser known radiopharmaceutical companies.

“That’s five deals in one and a half business days,” Stifel analyst tim opler said in an email to clients last week. “This is going to be a very different year for m & a than 2024.”

Last Year was marked by smaller and smarter deals in the pharmaceutical industry, according to eye’s M & a firepower Report Released Last Week. Big Pharma South Deals with Lower Price Tags for Products and Companies in Earlier Development, which would pay off more handsomely in the long run.

While this year has started off with more activity, the report pointed to potential rests on M & A in 2025: Ongoing Margin Pressure on Biopharma Companies is Still “Reducing the appears Acquisition targets in the industry are still commanding High Premiums in the Market, Among Other Factors that Cold Dampen Transactions.

That tracks for some large pharma companies.

During a presentation at the conference after j & j announced its intra-callar therapies deal, j & j ce ceo jo jo jo jo joquin duato said “for us, larger deals are more outliers.”

“The Majority of the Value That We Create is Through Smaller Deals and Partnerships where we can use our scale,” Duato said, pointing to the 75 smaller deals that j & j inked last year.

But the eye report said there “Structural Reasons to Expect a return to dealmaking,” Including the industry’s $ 1.3 trillion in dealmaking “Firepower,” Funder to the Ability to the Funds .

Large Pharma Companies are also also bracing for upcoming Drug Patent Expirations that Could Wipe Out $ 300 Billion in Revenues By 2028, Putting More Pressure on Them to O Offset Losses with New Products.

PfizerFor example, faces a wave of patent losses over the next few years that count threten some $ 17 billion to $ 18 billion in annual sales, the company’s ce ceo albert bourla said dipping a present But bourla said the company’s series of deals in recent years, such as it acquisition of cancer drug development development

The Trump Administration Could also “Significant Tailwinds” to the Industry by Cutting Corporate Taxes or Changing Ftc Policy “As Part of a General Dereculatory Shift,” Acording to the Ey Reporting.

But we’ll have to see how this all plays out later this year.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to annika at [email protected],

Now that jpm has come to a close, 2025 is officially underway for the health-care sector. But we can’t dive into the year ahead without taking a look at the venture fundscape for digital health in 2024.

On the whole, it was a year of the haves and the have nots.

Digital Health Startups in the Us Raised $ 10.1 Billion Across 497 Deals Last Year, According to a new report From Rock Health. That Total Fell from $ 10.8 Billion in 2023, and is about in line with the $ 8.2 billion raised prior to the pandemic in 2019 when adjusting for inflation. Digital Health M & A Hit A Decade Low Last Year, as the segment noted just 118 deals.

An Increase in Early-Stage Fundraising Activity, Along with Smaller Late-STAGE DALS, Account for the Lower Investment in 2024, Rock Health Said. Thiswal spell Trouble for Later-Stage Startups that raised Money at Sky-High Valuations during Covid, potentially pushing them towed acquisitions or shuttering operations replicated in 2025.

Additional, Large Megafunds, Health-Systems and Tech Companies Held An Outsized Amount of Influence Over Digital Health in 2024, Rock Health Said. Venture firms andressen horowitz and general catalyst, which second 20% of allcomitted lp capital in the us in 2024, Were the sector’s top investors, for instance.

And while Artificial Intelligence was still a hot investment area with Digital Health, It’s Baccoming Harder for Startups to Beat Out Large Incumbents. Rock Health Said Tech Companies like Microsoft that Can Afford to Build and MainTain Expensive Foundation Models MODELS PULLED AHEAD In Health-CARE AI, AS DID ORGANIZATIONS Dels on an enterprise-wide scale.

There’s stil room for smaller ai startups to find a niche within health care, but Rock health said they’ll need to “Think carefully about their positioning.”

“These dual trends-Early-STAGE STARTUP ACTION AMIDST BIG MOIVES by Large Healthcare Players –Have Created A David and Goliath Dynamic in the Healthcare Innovation Landscape,” Rocke Health SAID.

If jpm was any indicationWe’re in for another interesting year in digital health. We’ll see what 2025 has in store.

Read the full report here,

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at [email protected],