Biopharma funding fell 20% last year, reversing the post-pandemic recovery as the IPO haul dropped to the lowest level of the past 10 years. | Biopharma funding fell 20% last year, reversing the post-pandemic recovery as the IPO haul dropped to the lowest level of the past 10 years, according ... Biopharma funding fell 20% last year, reversing the post-pandemic recovery as the IPO haul dropped to the lowest level of the past 10 years. | Biopharma funding fell 20% last year, reversing the post-pandemic recovery as the IPO haul dropped to the lowest level of the past 10 years, according to an IQVIA analysis. IQVIA IPO funding China mergers and acquisitions Biotech Deals Venture Capital Biopharma funding fell 20% last year, reversing the post-pandemic recovery as the IPO haul dropped to the lowest level of the past 10 years. IQVIA shared the data in a report that tracked surges in the number of deals with Chinese biotechs and agreements worth more than $2 billion. 'When the markets opened, we were ready': Why biotech IPOs are back for 2026

Original title: “Biopharma funding dropped 20% in 2025 as companies doubled down on big bets: IQVIA”

Laigo Bio has completed the second close of its seed financing round at €5.5m, bringing the total raised to €17m

Original title: “Laigo Bio completes final close of €17m seed financing round”

AEON Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical company, has appointed John Bencich as Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Original title: “AEON Biopharma appoints John Bencich as CFO”

In this episode of Denatured, you'll listen to Sergey Jakimov, managing partner at LongeVC and Artem Trotsyuk, operating partner, US, LongeVC. We speak about how developers in the longevity space should stop chasing aging as an abstract target and concentrate on specific mechanisms that can clearly tackle age-related conditions.

Original title: “Beyond Buzzwords in Longevity Investing”

With thousands of companies and a $102 billion impact on the state’s economy, Indiana’s life sciences industry is making its mark. The president and CEO of the Indiana Life Sciences Association discusses the sector’s upside, challenges and where it’s headed in the future.

Original title: “Beyond the Cornfields, Indiana’s Life Sciences Industry Grows Tall”

Investors had reservations about data for a drug that could compete with a candidate from Vertex in APOL1-mediated kidney disease.

Original title: “Maze tumbles despite positive data for kidney disease drug”

Besting Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ kidney disease asset wasn’t enough to impress Wall Street, which appears to be “getting hung up” with the broad population data in Maze Therapeutics’ trial, according to Mizuho.

Original title: “Maze Loses Nearly a Third of Market Cap on Mixed Midstage Kidney Drug Data”

The Belgian drugmaker plans to hire about 330 people at a facility that will use advanced manufacturing technologies including AI, robotics and automation to meet rising demand for key products. This will be UCB's first biologics manufacturing facility in the U.S.

Original title: “UCB Investing $2B To Build Manufacturing Facility in Georgia”

Looking for a biopharma job in New York? Check out the BioSpace list of 11 companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.

Original title: “11 Companies Hiring Now in New York”

Merck’s acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals follows other big-ticket purchases, including of Verona Pharma and Cidara Therapeutics, as the pharma prepares for the impending expiration of its blockbuster’s patents.

Original title: “Merck To Buy Terns, ‘Unprecedented’ Leukemia Drug for $6.7B as Keytruda Cliff Looms”

If consummated, the deal would hand Merck a treatment that could challenge Novartis’ fast-selling Scemblix. But the low purchase premium — which one analyst described as a "steal" — may leave room for a competing bid.

Original title: “Merck to buy Terns in $6.7B bet on a ‘differentiated’ leukemia drug”

While RA Capital Management has yet to commit to a merger plan, it noted that its new blank-check company, Research Alliance III, could target companies abroad, including those from China.

Original title: “RA Capital Looks to China for Next Startup To Put on SPAC Track to Nasdaq”

Gilead continues its dealmaking spree in the sizzling hot space of I&I as Johnson & Johnson, along with partner Protagonist, notched an FDA approval for a new psoriasis drug. Plus, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals gets a new C-suite, FDA releases draft guidance on non-animal models and the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee is not being disbanded after all.

Original title: “Gilead’s Ouro Buy, J&J/Protagonist’s Approval, Aurinia’s Revamp, ACIP Confusion, More”

Axplora has announced plans to build a 4,500sqm R&D and laboratory hub at its Farmabios site in Gropello Cairoli in Italy

Original title: “Axplora announces expansion as newest part of $60m API investment programme”

Helus Pharma, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing novel serotonergic agonists (NSAs), has appointed Jill Conwell as Chief People Officer, effective immediately

Original title: “Helus Pharma appoints Jill Conwell as Chief People Officer”

Overall, the top 16 largest pharmaceutical companies spent $159 billion on research and development in 2025, compared to $165 billion the year prior. Here’s where all that cash went at companies like Johnson & Johnson, Amgen and Pfizer.

Original title: “Pharma R&D Spend Drops 3.6% as Pipeline Prioritizations Take Shape”

Trace Neuroscience, a member of BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2026, has learned from the success of Biogen’s Qalsody and aims to bring more treatment options to the ALS community.

Original title: “Trace Unites ALS Teams Behind a Target That Could Broaden Treatment Access”

The impending expiry of clearances, given by Sebi between April and June 2025, underscores how volatile market conditions are prompting firms to defer listings, raising the prospect of higher costs, delayed timelines and a near-term squeeze on fresh market liquidity. While 13 major companies are close to their 12-month IPO deadlines, six others—PMEA Solar Tech Ltd, Varindera Constructions Ltd, SMPP Ltd, Kumar Arch Tech Ltd, CIEL HR Services Ltd, and Paramesu Biotech Ltd—saw their Sebi approvals lapse since the start of the calendar in January, leaving approximately ₹7,600 crore in planned capital in limbo. Companies let IPO approvals lapse primarily to avoid poor valuations and low investor demand caused by volatile or bearish market conditions. Since an IPO is a once-in-a-lifetime fundraising event, firms prefer to wait for a better market window rather than list at a lower-than-desired price. The shift in sentiment could slow IPO launches in the near term, potentially ending a multi-year boom, even though the pipeline of companies planning to tap the market remains large. Most awaited planned offers for the year include those of National Stock Exchange, Reliance's Jio Platforms, India's largest asset manager, SBI Funds, and e-commerce platform Flipkart. A cooling initial public offering (IPO) market is beginning to weigh on India’s capital formation pipeline, with about ₹18,000 crore in planned fund-raising at risk.

Original title: “₹18,000-crore IPO pipeline at risk as approvals near expiry | Stock Market News”

The prominent investor aims to merge its latest special purpose acquisition company with a Chinese biotech, according to a securities filing.

Original title: “RA Capital targets China with latest SPAC deal”

Acquiring Ouro Medicines, which launched last year, hands Gilead an antibody designed to bind to BCMA and CD3, a pair of immune cell proteins that are popular targets for drugmakers.

Original title: “Gilead, with Ouro deal, wagers $1.7B on bispecifics for autoimmune diseases”