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Biotech deals are known to fuel therapeutic research and development. In the month of April 2025, a number of pharma giants took part in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as well as licensing deals. Some of these included Lilly, Merck, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Antibody drugs and small molecules continue to be a partnership favorite, and so do protein therapies and drug delivery platforms, this time around. In this article, we take a look at the major biotech deals that took place last month.
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Top biotech M&As of April 2025
The biopharma industry saw five major merger and acquisition (M&A) deals play out last month. Pharma giant Merck’s acquisition of American biotech SpringWorks Therapeutics, known for its cancer drug pipeline, came out on top. For a whopping $3.9 billion, Merck will get a hold of the latter’s medicine Gomekli, the first and only U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapy for neurofibromatosis – a genetic condition that can increase the risk of developing certain kinds of tumors – in children aged two years and older.
Another pharma giant that announced a buyout in April 2025 was Novartis. It bought California-based Regulus Therapeutics last week for $800 million upfront and will pay up to $900 million in milestone payments. Regulus’ prized possession farabursen will be taken over by the Swiss pharma giant. The antisense oligonucleotide farabursen is currently in the clinic to treat autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), a condition that can lead to kidney failure.
Meanwhile, genomics company GeneDx has plans to acquire Fabric Genomics for up to $33 million upfront. Fabric is also eligible to receive $51 million in milestone payments. However, as part of the deal, Fabric will continue to operate independently, while GeneDx will provide commercial support to Fabric both in the U.S. and internationally. The deal aims to accelerate the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and enable newborn screening with GeneDx’s rare disease data asset and Fabric’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform.
American special purpose acquisition company Voyager Acquisition Corp and German cancer therapeutics company VERAXA Biotech have come together to found a cancer therapy biopharma. VERAXA will spend $1.3 billion for the creation of the company. While much has not been revealed about the new company, VERAXA’s focus on bispecific antibody drug conjugates and T cell engagers are likely to be what the newly-founded company will be centered on.
Furthermore, U.K.-based Epsilogen’s takeover of Massachusetts-based TigaTx will combine IgA antibody assets to pioneer new antibody therapeutics to address cancer. The acquisition is bound to bolster the development of anti-EGFR IgA antibody EPS 401, formerly known as TIGA-001. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Finally, California-based Concentra Biosciences will soon gain control of fellow California-based company Allakos, which is developing antibodies for the treatment of allergic and inflammatory conditions. The transaction, much of which is undisclosed, will close this month. This agreement is meant to be a lifeline for Allakos, which suffered a phase 1 failure for its hives drug that led to layoffs in the company.
Biotech deals by approach in April 2025
Licensing deals: bispecific antibodies continue to shine in April
French pharma giant Sanofi has inked a deal with U.S.-based Earendil Labs to nab the worldwide rights to two of the latter’s bispecific antibodies, HXN-1002 and HXN-1003, to treat autoimmune and inflammatory bowel diseases. Earendil will receive $125 million upfront and is eligible to receive up to $1.72 billion in milestone payments. Sanofi continues its deal streak following its buyout of American company Dren Bio in March.
Also trading bispecific antibodies are U.S.-based Ollin Biosciences and Chinese company VelaVigo Bio. The China-based biotech will hand over the reins of its antibody candidate VBS-102 to Ollin but will retain the drug’s rights in China. VelaVigo is expected to receive up to $440 million in upfront and milestone payments. This is VelaVigo’s second licensing deal after its agreement with Chinese company Avenzo Therapeutics in November.
Moreover, German multinational company giant Boehringer Ingelheim is scooping up U.S.-based Cue Biopharma’s preclinical bispecific antibody CUE-501 for autoimmune diseases. Cue Biopharma will bag $12 million upfront and is eligible to receive up to $345 million in milestone payments in exchange for the pharma giant developing and commercializing the antibody.
Drug delivery platforms pique biopharma interests
In April 2025, British giant GSK has penned a £77 million ($102.21 million) deal with South Korean biotech ABL Bio for ABL’s blood-brain barrier shuttle platform to develop new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. The platform Grabody-B was developed to overcome the limitations of existing drugs that have difficulty crossing the blood-brain barrier. ABL Bio is anticipated to receive £2.075 billion ($2.75 billion) in milestone payments as part of the agreement.
Another big pharma company partnering to advance drug delivery platforms is Lilly. It has joined hands with California-based Sangamo Therapeutics to deliver genomic medicines to target diseases that affect the central nervous system. Lilly has snapped up the rights to employ Sangamo’s capsid STAC-BBB for up to five potential disease targets. The agreement will see Sangamo pocket $18 million upfront and up to $1.4 billion in milestone payments.
Additionally, Canada-based Entos Pharmaceuticals and Norwegian company Circio Holding are collaborating in the drug delivery space, as both are players in the field. Circio´s circVec DNA vectors will be combined with Entos’ gene delivery Fusogenix PLV technology to enhance the effectiveness of circVec DNA vector and reduce toxicity. The financial terms were not disclosed. This comes after Entos was awarded $4 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in February.
Biopharmas form alliances for small molecules
Spanish manufacturing biotech Ferrer signed a deal with Dutch company Prilenia Therapeutics in April 2025. The agreement allows Ferrer to commercialize Prilenia’s drug pridopidine in Europe, while Prilenia retains the rights to develop and commercialize the drug in North America, Japan, and Asia Pacific. The small molecule is being evaluated to treat two neurodegenerative diseases – Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The total deal is valued at up to €500 million ($567.28 million) in upfront and total milestone payments.
Similarly, American biotech Amicus Therapeutics and Australia-based Dimerix have partnered for Dimerix to hand over the U.S. rights to commercialize DMX-200 for the treatment of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis – a kidney disease characterized by scarring – over to Amicus. Dimerix will bag $30 million upfront and up to $560 million for success-based milestone payments.
Pharma giants collaborate for protein therapeutics
Apart from Merck’s acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics in April 2025, it also set out to partner with Austrian biotech Cyprumed to develop peptide drugs. Merck will gain the global rights to Cyprumed’s peptide delivery platform. The Austrian company is eligible to pocket $493 million in upfront, development, regulatory and net sales milestones. The products born out of the platform will be Merck’s to develop, manufacture, and commercialize.
To add to that, Sanofi announced its collaboration with California-based Nurix Therapeutics to employ Nurix’s DEL-AI drug discovery platform to identify new drugs. Sanofi will hold onto the rights to license the drug candidates that come out of the platform. However, Nurix has the option to co-develop and co-promote up to two future products in the U.S. Sanofi already paid Nurix $55 million when the agreement was first signed in 2019. Since then, Nurix has received $105 million, and it is further eligible to snag up to $465 million in milestone payments.
Biotech deals in April 2025: big pharma sweeps up AI model and cell therapies
California-headquartered Genentech has endowed Repertoire Immune Medicines with $35 million to gain access to the latter’s DECODE platform, which helps discover therapeutic targets against solid tumors or autoimmune disease. The drugs born out of the platform will specifically target T cells. Repertoire can receive up to $730 million in milestone payments.
In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), British multinational company AstraZeneca and U.S.-based Pathos AI and Tempus AI have all united to build a multimodal foundation model and discover novel drug targets for cancer. Once the model has been developed, it will be shared among all three companies to advance their own efforts to improve patient care. As part of the agreement, Tempus will draw in $200 million in data licensing and model development fees.
RNA drugs, antibodies, and precision medicine boost biotech deals in April 2025
Lilly engaged in another partnership deal last month. It joined forces with American biotech BigHat Biosciences to use BigHat’s AI-enabled platform to develop antibodies with the help of Lilly’s drug discovery capabilities. Although the financial terms were undisclosed, it was revealed that Lilly will make an equity investment in BigHat as well as support the development of its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for gastrointestinal cancers, which is predicted to hit the clinic next year.
Yet again, Lilly made moves in the RNA space last month. It banded together with California-based Creyon Bio to tap Creyon’s AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine to design antisense oligonucleotides, for which Lilly has been granted an exclusive license. Creyon will cash in $13 million upfront and can receive more than $1 billion in development and commercialization payments if certain milestones are achieved.
Meanwhile, Boehringer Ingelheim has forged relations with Dutch company Tessellate Bio in the field of precision medicine. The two have set out to develop cancer treatments, particularly those that target ALT-positive tumors. Boehringer is liable to pay up to €500 million ($568.01 million) in total payments.
Over in Japan, Astellas has struck a deal with Scottish company Chromatin Bioscience to leverage the chromatinLENS platform to design synthetic promoters. These promoters are expected to enable gene expression in specific cell types. The financial terms remain undisclosed.
Finally, Turkish company Er-Kim has gone after American company Puma Biotechnology’s drug NERLYNX, which is prescribed to people with HER2-positive breast cancer. Puma has handed over the distribution of the drug to Er-Kim in countries, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The financial terms were not revealed.
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