Top biotech deals in June 2025 

The month of June saw the peak of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals so far this year. In fact, the total deal value in June was more than double that of May. While many seasoned players, such as Sanofi, Lilly, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk took part in M&As and licensing deals, new biotechs and startups also entered the scene. With a special interest in curing metabolic diseases, most of the medicines up for grabs were small molecules, proteins, and antibodies. Take a look at the top biotech deals that were forged in June 2025.

Top biotech M&As of June 2025 

We’re midway through 2025, and June has been the month with the highest number of M&As this year. The biggest M&A in June was French pharma Sanofi’s $9.1 billion buyout of Massachusetts-headquartered Blueprint Medicines. The American biotech is focused on treating systemic mastocytosis, a rare disease characterized by the abnormal accumulation of certain white blood cells, for which it developed the tyrosine kinase inhibitor Ayvakyt, the first and only medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Sanofi will nab the rights to Ayvakyt as well as its cancer drug pipeline. 

Another big pharma company that cemented a billion-dollar deal was Lilly. It has acquired gene editing developer Verve Therapeutics for $1.3 billion in exchange for its base editors to address rare genetic conditions. Two of these editors are in early-stage clinical trials at the moment. 

Further dipping its toes in CAR-T therapeutics, American big pharma AbbVie is snapping up California-based Capstan Therapeutics for $2.1 billion, solidifying its role in the immunotherapies field. With CAR-T’s many challenges under scrutiny, Capstan is among the biotechs that want to take on the manufacturing and scalability barriers and improve CAR-T uptake. 

Over in Germany, another billion-dollar purchase took place. BioNTech took over CureVac for $1.25 billion for the latter’s mRNA vaccine program. These vaccines are both in clinical and preclinical trials to treat cancer and infectious diseases like COVID-19 and seasonal influenza. 

Meanwhile, Supernus Pharmaceuticals signed a $795 million deal to acquire fellow American biotech Sage Therapeutics. The latter’s brain disorder portfolio will add to Supernus’ central nervous system (CNS) therapeutics program. Sage’s postpartum depression drug will now be owned by Supernus. 

To add to that, American companies Carisma Therapeutics and OrthoCellix have merged. The new entity will be focused on developing cell therapies to address muscle diseases. OrthoCellix’s NeoCart, which is a cartilage implant technology that uses patient cells to repair cartilage defects of the knee, will continue to be developed in the clinic. Around 90% of the new company will be owned by OrthoCellix’s stockholders, and 10% will be owned by Carisma’s stockholders.  

British biotech Juvenescence has bought Ro5 to boost drug discovery with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Ro5 employs its AI Chemistry platform to design new molecules against drug targets. Its proposed program will specialize in treating a range of diseases, including brain, metabolic, and immune disorders. The acquisition follows Juvenescence’s $76 million series B funding that it secured in May. 

Another significant buyout that took place last month was Turnstone Biologics’ acquisition by XOMA Royalty for under $8 million. This is the solid tumor therapeutics’ saving grace after its final program was slashed earlier this year. Meanwhile, this is XOMA Royalty’s second purchase in a month after it snagged the monoclonal antibody mezagitamab from the Swedish company BioInvent for $20 million. 

Finally, New Jersey-based pain medicine developer Channel Therapeutics merged with North Carolina-based skin treatments company Pelthos Therapeutics. This was announced in conjunction with a $50.1 million private placement for Channel. 

Biotech deals by approach in June 2025 

Biotech deals drive small molecule development 

Like with M&As, several biotech deals took place in the month of June 2025. As usual, small molecules made the cut. A known dealmaker was Danish pharma Novo Nordisk, of Ozempic and Wegovy fame. Last month, it joined forces with American company Deep Apple Therapeutics to discover and develop small molecules for metabolic and heart diseases. The $812 million partnership will see the two design drugs targeting receptors called non-incretin GPCRs. It seems like Novo’s interest in targeting GPCRs is only growing, having signed a similar pact with California-based Septerna in May. 

Moreover, Swiss cancer drug developer Philochem is giving up the licensing rights of its prostate cancer drug OncoACP3 to Bristol-Myers Squibb-owned RayzeBio. As part of the agreement, Philochem will receive $350 million upfront and is eligible to receive up to $1 billion in milestone payments. RayzeBio now has the worldwide rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the clinical-stage small molecule. 

Another small molecule that has been sought through a partnership deal is the kinase inhibitor gusacitinib. The Formation Bio-owned oral drug is in the clinic for eczema, an inflammatory skin condition, but the collaboration with Sanofi will test the drug in new indications. The French pharma giant will pay the American biotech €545 million ($626 million) in upfront and milestone payments. 

T-cell engagers, vaccines, and antibodies: immunotherapies on the move 

In the field of immunotherapies, T-cell engagers have been picking up speed. The past few months have witnessed several deals in the area, and last month was no different. Japanese company Otsuka has linked with China-based Harbour BioMed to advance bispecific T-cell engagers to treat autoimmune diseases. The prime engager in question is HBM7020, which has shown promise in preclinical studies. For $47 million in upfront and near-term payments, Otsuka can develop, manufacture, and commercialize HBM7020 across the globe, excluding Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Harbour BioMed is also eligible to pocket up to $623 million in further milestone payments. 

Furthermore, American startup Cullinan Therapeutics and Chinese company Genrix Bio have also inked a deal to develop T-cell engagers for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Like with the Otsuka-Harbour BioMed deal, Genrix has handed over the global rights of the engager velinotamig to Cullinan, except in regions such as China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The Chongqing-based biotech will bag $20 million upfront and is eligible to receive up to $292 million in development and regulatory milestone payments as well as $400 million in sales-based milestones.  

Another immunotherapy-related deal that took place in June was between Bristol Myers Squibb and Germany-based BioNTech. The two plan to develop and commercialize the mRNA vaccine player’s bispecific antibody BNT327 in several solid tumor indications, including lung cancer, wherein clinical development is ongoing. BioNTech will receive $1.5 billion upfront and could snag up to $7.6 billion in milestone payments. 

Moreover, Singaporean Hummingbird Bioscience is licensing out its monoclonal antibody HMBD-002 to Australian company Percheron Therapeutics. Hummingbird stands to receive $290 million in upfront and milestone payments from the Melbourne-based biotech. Once the deal has closed, phase 2 studies for the drug will begin. 

In the vaccines market, French company Valneva has penned an agreement with CSL Seqirus. The multinational pharmaceutical will begin commercializing Valneva’s chikungunya vaccine Ixchiq this month, as well as its Japanese encephalitis vaccine Ixiaro in January next year. The financial terms of the deal were not revealed. This deal replaces one that Valneva signed with Danish company Bavarian Nordic three years ago, which had handed over marketing and distribution rights and will end in December. 

Meanwhile, U.S.-based NextCure is now partnering with Chinese pharma Simcere Zaiming to develop an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) called SIM0505, which is currently in phase 1 studies for treating solid tumors. Simcere is expected to gain up to $745 million in upfront and milestone payments.  

Top biotech deals: protein therapeutics reap funding in June 2025 

Protein therapeutics, including peptide drugs, have also been a partnership favorite this year. June kicked off with Lilly’s collaboration with Swedish chronic disease therapies developer Camurus for incretin therapies. These are a class of medicines used to treat diabetes and other metabolic disorders. Lilly will gain worldwide rights to research, develop, manufacture, and commercialize these drugs in exchange for paying $290 million in upfront, development, and regulatory milestone payments to Camurus and an additional $580 million in other milestone payments. 

This was the second alliance Lilly formed in the protein therapeutics field last month. It has also allied with California-based Juvena Therapeutics to use the AI-based screening platform for mapping the signaling proteins created by the biotech. These fusion proteins are aimed at improving mass and function. Juvena is poised to reel in up to $650 million in milestone payments. 

Similarly, Massachusetts-based Vor Bio has signed a deal with China’s ADC developer RemeGen to grab hold of the latter’s fusion protein telitacicept to develop and commercialize it to treat the autoimmune condition generalized myasthenia gravis outside of China. The Chinese biotech will receive $125 million in an upfront payment and warrants. It can also pull in more than $4 billion in potential regulatory and commercial milestones. 

On top of that, Swiss pharma giant Novartis and Massachusetts-based ProFound Therapeutics are collaborating to uncover proteins to target heart diseases. ProFound will bag $25 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments and can make up to $750 million per target that is discovered. This comes two months after Novartis’ $800 million acquisition of Regulus Therapeutics. 

Last month, several partnerships were signed to address metabolic disorders. One was between New York-based Hoth Therapeutics and Florida-based Silo Pharma, both of which came together to form a new venture focused on developing and commercializing treatments for obesity. A new platform has been created to design glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) therapies for this venture. The technology has been licensed from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Additionally, GLP-1 agonists have been eyed by biopharmas of late. American pharma Regeneron has united with China-based Hansoh Pharma to nab the latter’s GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist for obesity. Hansoh will get $80 million upfront and is anticipated to receive up to $1.93 billion in milestone payments. 

Biotechs tap AI and drug delivery technology to forge deals in June 2025  

Some biotechs are relying on AI to address chronic diseases. British pharma AstraZeneca has begun a $110 million collaboration with China-based CSPC Pharmaceuticals to discover oral drugs with the help of CSPC’s AI-driven drug discovery platform as well as develop a preclinical small molecule for immunological diseases. CSPC can draw in up to $5.22 billion in milestone payments.  

Besides, Italian company Chiesi and Swedish startup Key2Brain want to boost the development of recombinant enzyme replacement therapies that can cross the blood-brain barrier. These therapies are in the running to treat rare metabolic conditions called lysosomal storage disorders. The financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. 

Finally, Canadian company Nualtis and Germany-based Lohmann Therapie-Systeme (LTS) are cooperating to leverage the latter’s technology transfer and manufacturing capabilities to create oral thin film (OTF) products for drug delivery. The financial terms were not revealed. 

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