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Our Take: Feature: Notable recent transactions among Big Pharma and life sciences companies

September 22, 2025

Feature: Notable recent transactions among Big Pharma and life sciences companies

A number of newsworthy agreements have been signed in the last few weeks, including three multibillion-dollar acquisitions and a deal that will bring a historic pact to a close.

On Thursday, Roche entered into a definitive agreement to acquire San Francisco-based 89bio for as much as $3.5 billion, with the goal of obtaining pegozafermin, a Phase III candidate that 89bio has been developing for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, also known as MASH.

The Swiss drugmaker will pay $14.50 per share in cash, representing a 79% increase from the closing price of 89bio’s stock the day before the deal was announced. This part of the deal is valued at approximately $2.4 billion.

Along with the cash, 89bio shareholders will also receive a contingent value right worth up to $6 per share if the drug is approved and certain sales targets are achieved.

Pegozafermin, an analog of a protein hormone called fibroblast growth factor 21, has the potential to deliver “best-in-class efficacy” for patients with moderate to severe liver fibrosis and cirrhotic MASH. Roche is also eyeing pegozafermin for future combination with incretin treatments the company is developing for obesity.

The acquisition is subject to the usual closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of the year.

Earlier in the week, Bristol Myers Squibb signed an agreement to sell its 60% ownership in Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals (SASS), the first-ever U.S.-China pharmaceutical joint venture, which was established in 1982.

The sale includes both BMS’ stake in the joint venture and products SASS manufactures exclusively for mainland China. Among those products are the hepatitis B drug Baraclude (entecavir) and Bufferin.

News outlets reporting on the transaction did not provide the name of the buyer or the value of the deal, which is expected to close early next year.

Earlier this month, GTCR, a private equity firm based in Chicago, agreed to buy Zentiva, a European generic drug company that private equity company Advent acquired from Sanofi in 2018.

This transaction, reportedly valued at approximately $4.8 billion, is expected to close early next year if customary closing conditions are met.

In the aftermath of another private equity acquisition, gene therapy company bluebird bio has rebranded as Genetix Biotherapeutics.

PE firms Carlyle and SK Capital Partners bought the Somerville, Mass.-based biotech in June for an upfront payment of $3 per share in cash and a contingent value right of $6.84 per share in cash payable upon the achievement of a net sales milestone.

The new name harkens back to bluebird bio’s roots: the company was founded in 1992 as Genetix Pharmaceuticals.

Also earlier this month, Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific completed its acquisition of St. Paul, Minn.-based Solventum’s purification and filtration business for approximately $4 billion in cash.

The acquisition enhances Thermo Fisher’s bioproduction capabilities and expands the company’s reach into industries that require ultra-pure water, including battery, semiconductor, and medical device manufacturing.

Late last month, AbbVie signed a definitive agreement to acquire an investigational psychedelic drug, bretisilocin, from New York City-based Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals for up to $1.2 billion, which includes an upfront payment and development milestones.

Bretisilocin, a short-acting serotonin (5-HT)2A receptor agonist and 5-HT releaser, is being developed as a treatment for moderate to severe major depressive disorder. The compound has a shorter duration of psychoactive experience than others in its class, AbbVie noted.

As part of the agreement, Gilgamesh will spin off a new entity that will operate under the name Gilgamesh Pharma. Gilgamesh’s employees and its other drug development programs will transition to the new entity, along with an option-to-license agreement Gilgamesh established last year with AbbVie.

AbbVie’s acquisition of the bretisilocin program is subject to customary closing conditions. The companies did not provide an estimated timeline for completing the transaction.

Health Care Rounds #189:
Neal Shah on Using AI to Combat Payer Denials

Insurance denials are exploding, and they’re costing lives. In this episode of Health Care Rounds, John sits down with Neal Shah, CEO of CareYaya and Counterforce Health, to unpack the broken insurance system and the AI-driven surge in claim rejections. Neal shares how his personal caregiving experiences shaped his mission, why most patients never appeal, and how new tools can help level the playing field for families, physicians, and hospitals. Watch the episode or listen on your favorite podcast platform.

D.C. Developments

Secretary Kennedy’s newly expanded vaccine panel that advises the CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, voted on Friday to move away from previous panels’ broad recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations, instead voting in favor of shared clinical decision making — meaning anyone who wants a COVID-19 vaccination must consult with a health care provider first. For individuals ages 6 months through 64 years, the panel chose to include “an emphasis that the risk-benefit of vaccination is most favorable for individuals who are at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease and lowest for individuals who are not at an increased risk, according to the CDC list of COVID-19 risk factors.” The committee’s vote on requiring a prescription for COVID-19 vaccinations was tied at 6-6, but the committee chair, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, broke the tie with a “no” vote.

On Thursday, the panel voted to change current recommendations that allow children younger than 4 years to receive a combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccination (as opposed to two separate shots for MMR and chicken pox), but agreed in a separate vote that the CDC-funded Vaccines for Children program could continue to cover the cost of either option in that age group. On Friday, however, they reversed their vote and removed the combined shot from the program. And, though much of Thursday’s meeting was devoted to a discussion about whether to scrap the current recommendation to administer a dose of hepatitis B vaccine to all children at birth, the panel decided on Friday to postpone that vote.

Dr. George Tidmarsh, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research since July, has indicated that the FDA may stop convening advisory committees to assist the agency in deciding whether to approve new drugs. The FDA has used panels of outside experts to advise it for more than 50 years, though the agency does not always follow their recommendations. The advisory committees typically assess clinical trial data, along with testimony from FDA researchers and the sponsoring pharmaceutical company’s scientists, before making a recommendation on approving a specific drug.

Dr. Tidmarsh told two different groups last week that he did not think the advisory committees are needed, KFF Health News reported. He told the news outlet that advisory meetings on specific drugs “are redundant when you have the complete review letters,” referring to complete response letters the FDA sends to drug companies when a drug application is declined. He said the FDA would still consult advisory committees on matters such as how to regulate different drug classes. Dr. Robert Califf, who served as FDA Commissioner under the previous administration, told KFF Health News that Dr. Tidmarsh’s reasoning is “hard to follow,” adding that it is “extremely useful for people inside FDA to find out what other experts think before they make their final decisions.”

What else you need to know

California passed a law to prevent private equity firms from influencing patient care decisions made by physicians or dentists working for medical practices the PE firms invest in or own. The state law, Senate Bill 351, also applies to hedge funds. In addition, the new law voids noncompete clauses that restrict a physician or dentist from practicing or expressing concerns after leaving a practice controlled by a PE investor. Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, who introduced the legislation, noted in a press statement that PE investment in the state’s health care practices quintupled in 10 years. “That kind of growth demands modern enforcement tools, not to restrict investment, but to make sure it doesn’t hurt patient outcomes or drive up the cost of care,” Cabaldon said. The press release cited a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley (published online in March 2024 by Health Affairs), which found that, nationwide, PE-acquired physician practice sites increased from 816 across 119 metropolitan statistical areas in 2012 to 5,779 across 307 MSAs in 2021. The California Medical Association co-sponsored the bill, which goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom for signing.

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx raised its minimum reimbursement for brand-name drugs dispensed by independent pharmacies, effective Sept. 1. The increase applies to approximately 2,300 independent pharmacies across the U.S., according to the company’s post, but not to pharmacies affiliated with a pharmacy services administrative organization, chain, or other entity. Although UnitedHealth Group did not specify how much the minimum reimbursement had been raised, it said the increase “will help ensure that prescriptions filled by independent pharmacies are reimbursed at a positive margin” as brand drug utilization continues to grow “alongside manufacturer-set prices.” The move builds on a cost-based reimbursement model Optum Rx announced in March. Optum Rx is one of the country’s three largest PBMs.

The FDA approved Merck’s Keytruda QLEX, an injectable formulation of the company’s blockbuster Keytruda (pembrolizumab), for subcutaneous administration in adults. The injectable version contains berahyaluronidase alfa, a variant of human hyaluronidase developed and manufactured by Alteogen, Merck noted in a press release. Approved for most of intravenous Keytruda’s solid tumor indications, Keytruda QLEX can be injected in one minute every three weeks or two minutes every six weeks. Merck said it expects to have Keytruda QLEX available in the U.S. later this month. Although the company did not say how much the injectable version would cost, The New York Times reported that Merck said the price would be similar to Keytruda, which has a list price of nearly $204,000 for a six-week cycle.

Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health has a new CEO. Dr. Mitchell Rosner has been appointed to a three-year term, during which he will also serve as executive vice president for health affairs at the University of Virginia — a role he held on an interim basis for the past seven months. The decision to make the EVP role permanent and to appoint Dr. Rosner as CEO of the health system was made during a UVA board of visitors meeting. Before being chosen to lead UVA Health, Dr. Rosner, a nephrologist, has been a faculty member at the UVA School of Medicine for 21 years and served as chair of the department of medicine, according to the announcement. UVA Health’s previous CEO, Dr. K. Craig Kent, resigned in February.