All-Out Effort Against Patent Cliff... Big Pharma M&A Booms in Q1

Global big pharmaceutical companies are accelerating their acquisition of promising assets in preparation for the so-called “patent cliff.” As the pharmaceutical and biotech mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market, which showed signs of recovery at the end of last year, has led to trillion-won deals in the first quarter of this year, the competition to secure next-generation growth engines is intensifying.

According to industry sources on April 2, there were at least 10 global pharmaceutical and biotech M&A deals valued at over 1 billion dollars (approximately 1.5 trillion won) announced in the first quarter. This figure only counts corporate acquisitions, excluding specific pipeline deals or technology transfers.

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The largest acquisition deals in the first quarter came from Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences. Last month, Eli Lilly announced it would acquire Centessa Pharmaceuticals, a developer of sleep disorder treatments, for up to 7.8 billion dollars (about 11.8 trillion won). Following the acquisitions of Ventix Biosciences (1.2 billion dollars) and Ona Therapeutics (2.4 billion dollars) earlier this year, this is its third acquisition deal in 2026. The Centessa acquisition is significant in that Lilly, which has established a strong presence in the central nervous system (CNS) field with Alzheimer’s treatment “Donanemab,” is now expanding its portfolio into the sleep and arousal disorder segment.

Gilead Sciences acquired Arcellx, a developer of multiple myeloma treatments, for 7.8 billion dollars. The core asset is the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy candidate “Anito-cel,” intended for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The company is awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this year. It is also evaluated that Gilead Sciences is strengthening its competitiveness in cell therapy by considering the scalability of Arcellx’s “D-domain CAR platform” technology.

U.S.-based Merck (MSD), facing the upcoming patent expiration of its blockbuster immuno-oncology drug Keytruda, acquired Turnstone Pharmaceuticals, which holds a candidate treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), for 6.7 billion dollars. Deals related to allergy treatments also stand out. Novartis acquired Excelergy Therapeutics, a developer of allergy treatments, for up to 2 billion dollars, while GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquired Lat Therapeutics, a developer of food allergy treatments, for 2.2 billion dollars.

Despite increasing global uncertainty, big pharma’s investment stance remains unchanged. Analysts note that a division of labor is becoming established, with biotech companies handling early-stage research and big pharma securing assets at the late clinical stage. It is also noteworthy that deals are concentrated in high-growth therapeutic areas such as CNS and immune diseases.

The industry expects this trend to continue for the time being. With a series of blockbuster drug patent expirations scheduled through 2030, there is analysis that strategies to secure external pipelines will inevitably be further strengthened to shorten new drug development timelines and increase success rates. The global pharmaceutical market analysis firm IQVIA forecasts that the size of global biopharma M&A transactions will reach 160 billion dollars this year, up from 133 billion dollars last year.

However, there are projections that, depending on macroeconomic factors such as interest rates and geopolitical risks, a selective investment approach will continue, focusing on proven assets rather than early-stage ones. IQVIA analyzed, “Mega deals (those exceeding 10 billion dollars) will become rare going forward due to uncertain value creation and the operational complexities of integrating two large organizations. Instead, acquiring companies are expected to apply stricter criteria, focusing on differentiated assets and portfolio fit.”

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