Darwin's Our Take: Servier, Agilent, Medtronic, and UHS announce significant acquisitions

Several substantial health care-related acquisitions were announced last week, including a $2.5 billion deal by Servier and Universal Health Services’ agreement to buy an online behavioral health provider for $835 million.

In the largest of the transactions, Servier — a privately held international pharmaceutical company based near Paris and governed by a nonprofit foundation — signed a definitive agreement to acquire Day One Biopharmaceuticals, which is based in Brisbane, Calif., for $21.50 per share, or approximately $2.5 billion.

Day One focuses primarily on developing targeted treatments for rare cancers. The company has one marketed drug, Ojemda (tovorafenib), an oral type II RAF inhibitor the FDA approved on an accelerated basis in 2024 as a treatment for patients ages 6 months and older who have relapsed or refractory BRAF-altered pediatric low-grade glioma.

A Phase III trial is underway to support expanded use of Ojemda as a first-line treatment for patients with RAF-altered pediatric low-grade glioma.  

Servier gained another glioma treatment, Voranigo (vorasidenib), through its acquisition of Agios Pharmaceuticals’ oncology unit for $1.8 billion in 2021. The FDA approved Voranigo in 2024 as a targeted treatment for adult and pediatric patients ages 12 years and older with Grade 2 IDH-mutant glioma, triggering a milestone payment of $200 million to Agios.

Before that, Servier acquired Shire’s oncology business in 2018 for $2.4 billion.

Day One’s pipeline also includes two investigational treatments for adult and pediatric solid tumors. If regulatory approvals are obtained and other customary closing conditions are met, Servier expects to complete its acquisition of Day One in the second quarter.

In a separate transaction, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Agilent Technologies entered into a definitive agreement to acquire San Francisco-based Biocare Medical for $950 million in cash.

Originally a spinoff from Hewlett-Packard, Agilent serves the clinical and routine diagnostics markets. Biocare Medical’s portfolio of pathology products includes immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and fluorescence in situ hybridization diagnostic solutions for patients with cancer.

Agilent is acquiring Biocare Medical from an investor group led by Excellere Partners and GHO Capital Partners, according to the announcement. If all customary closing conditions are satisfied, including receipt of regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close no later than Agilent’s fourth fiscal quarter, which ends in October.

Medtronic also entered into a definitive agreement last week. The Galway, Ireland-based medtech company agreed to acquire Scientia Vascular, a privately held firm operating in Salt Lake City, in a deal valued at $550 million.

Scientia’s portfolio of access products, which includes guidewires and catheters, are used in treating neurovascular conditions such as stroke.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first half of Medtronic’s 2027 fiscal year, which runs from late April to the end of October.

Wrapping up the rundown of last week’s largest health care-related deals, Universal Health Services (UHS) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Talkspace, an online behavioral health provider based in New York, for $5.25 per share, or approximately $835 million.

UHS, a for-profit health system based in King of Prussia, Pa., operates 29 inpatient acute care facilities, 346 inpatient behavioral health facilities, and 168 outpatient and other facilities. It also operates a health insurance subsidiary and a physician network, according to a press release announcing the deal.  

”This acquisition aligns with UHS’ core growth objectives by accelerating our outpatient and telehealth behavioral health strategies, diversifying our payer mix, and delivering a comprehensive, technology-enabled continuum of care that supports innovative approaches to mental health services,” said Marc Miller, CEO of UHS.

Talkspace’s network of roughly 6,000 licensed behavioral health professionals serves all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. As of the end of last year, the company’s services were available to more than 200 million people.

Both companies’ boards have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter if regulatory officials and Talkspace’s shareholders approve it and other customary closing conditions are met.

HCR #201: Lessons from VA Pharmacy, with Eric Scott

The VA is one of the largest integrated health systems in the country, but it operates unlike anything in the private sector. What can pharmacy leaders and health system executives learn from an organization that has embedded pharmacists into clinical care for decades, given them prescriptive privileges, and built virtual urgent care teams from the ground up? Eric Scott, PharmD, former Chief of Pharmacy, US Department of Veterans Affairs, joins John to discuss what makes the VA uniquely positioned to innovate and how the evolving role of its pharmacists challenges private sector norm. Watch the episode here or listen on your favorite podcast platform.

What else you need to know

The FDA issued new proposed guidance intended to further ease the development and approval process for biosimilars. The agency said in a press release it is recommending “streamlining unnecessary clinical pharmacokinetic (PK) testing.” Currently, companies developing a biosimilar must conduct at least one PK study that directly compares the biosimilar to its reference biologic using a U.S.-licensed product.

The FDA’s draft guidance proposes eliminating the requirement of a three-way PK study involving the biosimilar candidate, the U.S.-licensed reference biologic, and a foreign comparator. Doing so would permit developers to conduct a PK study using only “a comparator product approved outside the U.S. if scientifically justified.” The agency said this change could save biosimilar developers as much as 50% of their PK study costs.

A draft guidance the FDA issued in October sought to eliminate the usual requirements for comparative efficacy studies, thereby allowing biosimilar developers to rely more on analytical testing and less on clinical trials.

In related news, Swiss generic drugmaker Sandoz has created a new unit dedicated to new biosimilar development, manufacturing, and supply. “We stand today at the start of an unprecedented ‘golden decade’ for patient access, with medicines worth more than $650 billion set to lose exclusivity over the next 10 years,” Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor said in a media release. “As the global leader in affordable medicines and the pioneer of biosimilars, Sandoz is determined to capture this opportunity and deliver strong, sustainable growth.” Armin Metzger will join Sandoz on April 1 as president of the new unit.

Medicare Advantage overpayments — the difference between federal spending on MA relative to traditional Medicare — increased Medicare Part B premiums by an estimated $13.4 billion in 2025, or $212 per enrollee, a report from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee indicates. These overpayments do not include errors or improper payments. Typically, MA plan enrollees and beneficiaries in traditional Medicare pay about 85% of the excess premiums associated with MA overpayments — even though beneficiaries in traditional Medicare do not receive the extra benefits MA plans offer. Taxpayers end up paying the rest.

Over the past 10 years, the cumulative amount of higher premiums resulting from MA overpayments has been $82 billion. “On average, covering an enrollee in an MA plan costs 120% of what it would cost in traditional Medicare,” the report states, noting that the original intention of allowing private insurers to offer MA plans was for payments to be 95% of traditional Medicare costs.

In the next 10 years, per-person premiums for Part B are projected to double, from $2,440 to approximately $5,000, and of that amount, about $450 will be the result of MA overpayments if the current rate over overpayments stays the same. The committee’s estimates are based on information from a March 2025 report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and may need to be revised slightly downward when MedPAC’s March 2026 report is finalized.  

The National Academy of Medicine launched an initiative called Patient Safety in the Era of AI. The purpose is “to harness the promise of artificial intelligence to improve patient safety and prevent harm across all U.S. health care delivery systems,” according to the announcement. The steering group of the initiative consists of senior executives from four large health systems: Co-chairs Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, CEO of Mayo Clinic, and Wright Lassiter, CEO of CommonSpirit Health, as well as Dr. Christopher Longhurst, CEO of Seattle Children’s, and Dr. Peter Pronovost, chief quality and clinical transformation officer of University Hospitals. Organizations that have contributed initial funding in support of the effort include the Elevance Health Foundation, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, the California Health Care Foundation, and Premier.

Novo Nordisk and Hims & Hers appear to have ended the dispute that erupted in early February when Hims & Hers said it would offer a compounded semaglutide pill at a lower price than Novo Nordisk’s oral version of Wegovy. The FDA approved the Wegovy pill in December, and Novo Nordisk launched it early this year. Novo Nordisk announced Monday that it had reached an agreement under which Hims & Hers will stop advertising compounded GLP-1 drugs and will offer the branded versions of injectable and oral Wegovy, as well as branded versions of injectable Ozempic, to U.S. consumers “at the same affordable self-pay prices as other telehealth platforms.” In return, Novo Nordisk agreed to drop its lawsuit against Hims & Hers. In a press release, Hims & Hers said it plans to provide access to a broad assortment of FDA-approved medications and offer compounded semaglutide on a limited scale — for customers whose clinical needs cannot be met using commercially available FDA-approved GLP-1s.

Centene’s membership in Affordable Care Act exchange plans is likely to be down by nearly 40% by the end of this year, the company’s senior executives acknowledged at the Barclays Global Healthcare Conference last week. As of late February, membership had already decreased to 3.6 million from 5.5 million at the end of 2025, and “modest attrition” is expected to continue this month and throughout the year. CEO Sarah London said Centene anticipated that “the market would shrink somewhere between the high teens and mid-30s.” She added that the membership trajectory is tracking in line with the company’s expectations. The news led to a substantial drop in Centene’s stock price on Tuesday morning.

D.C. developments

The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) withdrew as a liaison organization from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) late last month. In the announcement, ACOG cited its concerns about “changes that undermine the committee’s scientific integrity and evidence-based approach to vaccine policy” as the reason for withdrawing. The organization noted that it will continue to develop and regularly update evidence-based vaccine guidance for OB-GYNs and their patients.

“The recent reconstitution of the committee; the removal of ACOG experts from ACIP workgroups; and [the Department of Health and Human Services’] unilateral changes to vaccine recommendations, which bypassed established scientific and clinical processes, represent a fundamental departure from the scientific rigor and impartiality that have been the hallmark of this committee for 60 years,” said Dr. Steven Fleischman, ACOG’s president.

The American Academy of Pediatrics withdrew as an ACIP liaison organization last June. Dr. Sue Kressly, the organization’s president at the time, said in a video statement that the ACIP process was “no longer credible” and was being “politicized at the expense of children’s health.”  

What we’re reading

Cyber Attacks Are Inevitable in Health Care. Patients Don’t Have to Pay the Price. BCG, 3.9.26

Public Views on Prescription Drug Costs: Regulation, Affordability and TrumpRx. KFF, 3.13.26

The Ambulatory Specialty Model: The Next Step Toward Engaging Specialists In Accountable Care. Health Affairs, 3.11.26