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The month of May was a quieter one on the deals front compared to the past few months this year. Still, biopharmas got together to fuel the RNA and small molecule spaces. Lilly nabbed the highest number of licensing partnerships, while GSK, Sanofi, and BioMarin were among those who spent millions on buyouts. Let us dive into the top biotech deals of May 2025.
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Top biotech M&As of May 2025
In April, the major pharma giants in the mergers and acquisitions (M&As) space were Novartis and Merck. Last month, however, the big names that announced multimillion-dollar buyouts were GSK, Sanofi, and BioMarin.
The $1.2 billion GSK deal is with Boston Pharmaceuticals, situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The British pharma giant has now acquired the American biotech’s fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) analog therapy, which has completed phase 2 studies in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a serious liver disease characterized by fat buildup in the liver. Apart from the upfront fee, Boston Pharmaceuticals can pocket up to $800 million in milestone payments.
French big pharma company Sanofi will soon take command over Massachusetts-based Vigil Neuroscience after it signed a $470 million acquisition deal. Vigil’s pipeline, led by its small molecule TREM2 agonist for Alzheimer’s disease, will soon be in the hands of Sanofi. Now, it will compete with fellow pharma giant Novartis advancing its TREM2-targeting candidate in the Alzheimer’s treatment space.
Meanwhile, California-based biotech BioMarin Pharmaceutical has bought Massachusetts-based Inozyme Pharma for $270 million. This comes as Inozyme’s recombinant enzyme INZ-701 embarks on a phase 3 trial, having completed enrollment in January for children with ENPP1 deficiency, a rare inherited disorder caused by mutations in the ENPP1 gene.
Finally, California-based Concentra Biosciences has signed buyout deals two months in a row. After the biotech purchased fellow California-based Allakos in April, it is back in business, having inked an agreement with struggling cancer and autoimmune disease drug developer Kronos Bio. This might be the saving grace for Kronos, as it shuttered its California headquarters two months ago following severe layoffs and slashing its last remaining candidate, a CDK9 inhibitor, from its pipeline late last year. The acquisition is priced at $0.57 in cash per share of Kronos’ common stock.
Biotech deals by approach in May 2025
Biotechs want in on RNA interference
City Therapeutics is a biotech in Massachusetts that engineers small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to mediate RNA interference (RNAi). American big pharma company Biogen wants to leverage City’s engineering technology to create an RNAi trigger molecule. The plan is to combine this molecule with Biogen’s drug delivery platform to target diseases that affect the central nervous system (CNS). In exchange, the American startup will receive $16 million upfront and $30 million in exchange for a convertible note. It is also eligible to gain up to $1 billion in milestone payments.
Another big pharma company that wants a hand in the RNAi space is AbbVie. It locked arms with California-based ADARx Pharmaceuticals last month, the latter of which will discover siRNAs with the help of its platform technology. These RNAs will be used as therapeutic agents to fight diseases such as cancer and those that affect the immune and nervous systems. Through this deal, AbbVie has secured the option to license the RNAs that come out of the collaboration, and ADARx can rake in several billion dollars in milestone payments on top of the $335 million that it will get upfront.
Additionally, Swiss-American gene editor CRISPR Therapeutics wants a piece of the pie. It has joined forces with Chinese-American Sirius Therapeutics to co-develop and co-commercialize the siRNA SRSD107 to treat thromboembolic disorders – conditions where blood clots obstruct blood vessels, causing organ damage. Also part of the deal, CRISPR has bagged the rights from Sirius to license up to two additional siRNA programs. It will pay $25 million in cash and $70 million in equity to Sirius. The month of May has been fortunate for Sirius, as it also raised $50 million in a series B funding round.
Small molecules: always in the making
May also saw partnerships form over small molecules, as usual. Multinational company Genentech has pledged to discover small molecules with Massachusetts-headquartered Orionis Biosciences. In particular, they want to uncover molecular glues for neurodegenerative conditions and cancer. Molecular glues, as the name suggests, stick proteins together to promote interactions between them. Orionis will discover these glues, after which Genentech will conduct clinical trials and commercialize the small molecules. Orionis can shovel in more than $2 billion in milestone payments once it has received $105 million upfront.
Meanwhile, after it went on a partnership spree in March, Novo Nordisk is back in the game. It has vowed to discover and develop small molecules in a $2.2 billion agreement with California-based Septerna. The small molecules will be designed to target G protein-coupled receptors, which are receptors on cells that activate G proteins that trigger certain signaling pathways. Specifically, the small molecules will be directed towards the GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon receptors, which are linked to metabolic diseases and obesity.
Moreover, after forging relations with American biotechs in the genomics and antibodies spaces in April, U.S. giant Lilly wants to target pain. It has clinched a $1 billion deal with California-based SiteOne Therapeutics to create small molecules that inhibit sodium channels in the body – as they play a critical role in pain perception and signaling – to treat pain and neuronal hyperexcitability disorders, wherein neurons become overactive and begin to fire uncontrollably. One of the small molecules that is part of the deal is STC-004, which is in the clinic to treat pain.
U.S.-based GRIN Therapeutics and Italian company Angelini Pharma have gotten together to focus on treating neurological disorders. GRIN has given up the rights of its negative allosteric modulator radiprodil outside of North America to Angelini. The American company will snag $50 million upfront and up to $520 million in milestone payments and will retain the rights to the small molecule in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Biotech deals: RNA-edited drugs and ADCs beam in May
Another in Lilly’s roster is RNA-edited medicines. It has called on South Korean RNA editor Rznomics to discover and develop therapies for sensorineural hearing loss, the most common type of permanent hearing loss caused by damage to the inner ear, auditory nerve, or central nervous system. The $1.3 billion deal will see Rznomics conducting early-stage research with the help of its trans-splicing ribozyme platform, following which Lilly will develop the medicines further and potentially commercialize them.
Besides, Taiwanese company Formosa Pharmaceuticals and Northern Ireland-based Almac Discovery have begun a collaboration over antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Formosa will gain control of Almac’s solid tumor treatment ALM-401 in a licensing agreement. The financial terms were not disclosed.
Biopharmas drawn to monoclonal and bispecific antibodies
Lilly has also bet on monoclonal antibodies to address the neurodegenerative condition, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It has tapped London-based Alchemab Therapeutics for the latter’s monoclonal antibody ATLX-1282, which is poised to enter the clinic. Alchemab will gain up to $415 million in upfront and milestone payments. This is the second deal that the two have cemented this year in the same therapeutic space.
After a hiatus from collaborations since January, Pfizer linked up with Chinese company 3SBio last month. The Shenyang-based biotech will earn $1.25 billion upfront and up to $4.8 billion in milestone payments, as it will hand over the reins of its clinical bispecific antibody SSGJ-707 for several cancers over to the pharma giant.
Finally, another Chinese biotech making moves in the cancer therapy space is EpimAb Biotherapeutics. It has sold the global rights of its T-cell engager – which is a kind of bispecific antibody – for prostate cancer to U.S.-based Juri Biosciences for $210 million in upfront and milestone payments. This is the Shanghai-based biopharma’s second partnership deal this year in the T-cell engagers field.
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