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July saw one of the biggest acquisition deals this year. Several pharma giants shook hands with young biotechs developing small molecules and antibodies born out of various proprietary drug discovery platform technologies. Cancer therapies topped the licensing deal space last month. Take a look at the top biotech deals inked in July 2025.
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Top biotech M&As of July 2025
The second richest deal of the year after Johnson & Johnson’s acquisition of American company Intra-Cellular Therapies in January took place last month. For a whopping $10 billion, Merck is acquiring U.K.-based Verona Pharma, a small molecule therapeutics company developing treatments for breathing disorders. The pharma giant will get a hold of Verona’s prime candidate ensifentrine, a PDE3/PDE4 inhibitor, which was approved for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a chronic lung disease that makes it hard to breathe, last year.
Another pharma giant, Sanofi, has bought London-based Vicebio for $1.15 billion. Vicebio’s Molecular Clamp technology has been leveraged to develop vaccines for infectious diseases, specifically those caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), and influenza, among others. The most advanced in its pipeline is VXB-241, which adds to Sanofi’s own lung disease portfolio that targets RSV, hMPV, and the flu as well.
Meanwhile, multinational pharmaceutical BioMarin has taken over Massachusetts-based Inozyme. This means that BioMarin gets to own the latter’s enzyme replacement therapy, INZ-701, which is being developed for the treatment of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1) deficiency, a rare, serious, and progressive genetic condition that affects blood vessels, soft tissues, and bones. BioMarin has spent $270 million on the buyout, adding to its own enzyme therapies portfolio.
Furthermore, California-based Concentra Biosciences swooped in and purchased three struggling American biotechs last month after it closed two deals in May. For $217.5 million, it took the reins of CAR-T developer Cargo Therapeutics, which had dropped its lead CAR-T candidate this year and let go of 90% of its employees in March.
Similarly, the serial acquirer took over IGM Biosciences and iTeos Therapeutics, both of which experienced significant lows this year. The $82 million deal with IGM came after the antibody developer was ditched by Sanofi in May, followed by an 80% staff layoff. With iTeos, Concentra Biosciences bought it after the checkpoint inhibitor developer’s lung cancer candidate failed a phase 2 trial in May and revealed that it was winding down operations.
Finally, Hong Kong- and China-based Sino Biopharmaceutical procured LaNova Medicines, a biologics developer located in Shanghai, for $951 million. As part of the acquisition, Sino will secure LaNova’s lead candidate, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) called LM-302, which is in the clinic to treat gastric cancer and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma – the most common type of pancreatic cancer – as well as other early-stage ADCs and monoclonal and bispecific antibodies.
Biotech deals by modality in July 2025
Biopharmas sign deals for small molecules
Swiss giant Novartis and Massachusetts-based Matchpoint Therapeutics have penned a $1 billion deal to develop and commercialize oral covalent inhibitors to address inflammatory diseases. As part of the deal, Matchpoint will employ its advanced Covalent Exploration (ACE) platform to advance its preclinical program for Novartis to eventually pick candidates to further develop. Matchpoint will bag $60 million upfront. Novartis has been involved in a fair number of deals this year, including its licensing agreement with another Massachusetts-based company, ProFound Therapeutics, in June.
Moreover, Eli Lilly and California-based Gate Bioscience inked an $856 million deal to develop molecular gate medicines utilizing the latter’s drug discovery engine and Lilly’s command over small molecule therapies.
British big pharma GSK and Chinese company Hengrui Pharma sealed a deal last month to develop 12 small molecule medicines to treat a range of diseases, including cancer, breathing disorders, and inflammatory conditions. Part of the agreement is an exclusive worldwide license for HRS-9821, a PDE3/4 inhibitor, for the treatment of COPD, except in regions such as China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Hengrui is expected to receive $500 million upfront.
Additionally, Swiss company Debiopharm and Canadian biotech Repare Therapeutics are renewing their partnership to develop Repare’s small molecule PKMYT1 inhibitor lunresertib to treat cancer. This is following positive phase 1 results for lunresertib late last year. Repare will pocket $10 million upfront and is eligible to receive up to $257 million. The two companies began their collaboration last year to develop both of their drugs, lunresertib and Debiopharm’s WEE1 inhibitor Debio 0123, as a combination therapy for difficult-to-treat solid tumors.
Another Swiss company that took part in a partnership deal was BioVersys. It tapped Japanese pharma Shionogi to address infections caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria. BioVersys can secure CHF 5 million ($6.2 million) upfront and up to CHF 479 million ($594 million) in milestone payments in exchange for jointly developing BioVersys’s BV500 program, specifically the antibiotic ansamycin.
To treat metabolic diseases, Pennsylvania-based Madrigal Pharmaceuticals and Chinese company CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited have plans to develop GLP-1 receptor agonists. Specifically, they signed a pact to develop Madrigal’s GLP-1 SYH2086 in combination with its other drug Rezdiffra, a thyroid hormone receptor-beta (THR-beta) agonist, for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a progressive form of liver disease characterized by fat buildup in the liver. CSPC will receive $120 million upfront and is eligible to gain up to $2 billion in milestone payments.
Biotechs invest in antibodies
Along with Sanofi’s buyout of Vicebio, the French pharma joined hands with Netherlands-based Kling Bio. With the help of Kling’s antibody discovery technology, the two plan to identify monoclonal antibodies that can induce neutralizing activity against viruses. The platform has already helped uncover antibodies against RSV, COVID-19, and influenza. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
To add to that, Japan-based Chugai Pharmaceutical is collaborating with Singapore-based Gero to create monoclonal antibodies for age-related diseases. The startup’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven platform will first identify the antibody molecules, which will then be modified using Chugai’s engineering technology. Gero can snag up to $250 million in milestone payments as well as an undisclosed upfront amount.
Besides, Sanofi’s pact with Chinese biotech Adagene was its second licensing deal last month. The company has invested $25 million in Adagene to fund the research and development (R&D) of the anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody muzastotug for colorectal cancer, a type of cancer that develops in the colon or the rectum. Adagene will supply Sanofi with the drug to evaluate it in combination with other anticancer therapies in more than 100 patients in a phase 1/2 clinical trial in advanced solid tumors.
Meanwhile, Japan-based Kissei Pharmaceutical joined forces with Massachusetts-based Viridian Therapeutics to develop and commercialize veligrotug and VRDN-003 – both monoclonal antibodies – in Japan to treat patients with thyroid eye disease. Viridian will rake in $70 million upfront and up to $315 million in milestone payments.
On top of that, AbbVie and New York-based IGI Therapeutics are working together to develop the trispecific antibody ISB 2001 for treating cancer and autoimmune disorders. The candidate is born from IGI’s BEAT protein platform. IGI will receive $700 million upfront and is eligible to get up to $1.225 billion in milestone payments. This comes after AbbVie snapped up California-based immunotherapy developer Capstan Therapeutics for $2.1 billion in June.
Biotechs want a piece of drug delivery platforms
Easing the delivery of certain medicines is pivotal in drug development and improving the quality of lives for patients. For instance, treating eye diseases often requires frequent injections directly into the eye, which can be very burdensome for patients. Boehringer Ingelheim and U.K.-based Re-Vana Therapeutics have struck a deal to develop long-acting treatments for eye disorders. The $1 billion deal will take advantage of Re-Vana’s drug delivery technology, which is designed to release treatments slowly over six to 12 months, with the aim of reducing how often patients need injections. The two will work on up to three programs each year, which the German pharma giant plans to further develop and commercialize.
Similarly, Massachusetts-based Alexion and Japanese company JCR Pharmaceuticals have made plans to develop adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids for genomic medicines. JCR’s JUST-AAV consists of a range of vectors that are directed towards various target tissues. Alexion is allowed to use the capsids in up to five of Alexion’s genomic medicine programs. Alexion is expected to pay JCR up to $225 million in R&D milestones and up to $600 million in sales milestones.
American biotechs Revolution Medicines and Iambic Therapeutics are putting their heads together to identify new drug protein therapeutics using AI to treat cancer. Iambic can get up to $25 million in upfront and milestone payments in exchange for Revolution being able to access its NeuralPLexer model, a generative model that can predict protein-ligand complex structures.
The power of AI in antibody discovery
