Following a mercurial couple of years for biopharma M&A activity, 2025 saw a marked return to form, with a bevy of looming patent expirations and a thawing of the biotech investment scene prompting drug developers of all stripes to pull out their checkbooks in 2025.
Still, the scope and scale of the deals tallied in 2025—which one leader at L.E.K. Consulting’s global health practices estimated to be the “strongest M&A year since 2019”—wasn’t a sure thing for much of the first half of 2025, as the industry grappled with major policy uncertainties in the U.S.
But by the back half of the year, as the biopharma realm came to grips with the new normal, a spate of deals kicked off.
1-Johnson & Johnson and Intra-Cellular
Deal value: $14.6 billion
2-Novartis and Avidity
Deal value: $12 billion
3-Pfizer and Metsera
Deal value: Up to $10 billion
4- Merck and Verona
Deal value: $10 billion
5- Sanofi and Blueprint
Deal value: Up to $9.5 billion
6- Thermo Fisher and Clario
Deal value: Up to $9.4 billion
7- Merck and Cidara
Deal value: $9.2 billion
8- enmab and Merus
Deal value: $8 billion
9-Novo Nordisk and Akero Therapeutics
Deal value: Up to $5.2 billion
10-Merck KGaA and SpringWorks Therapeutics
Deal value: $3.9 billion
