Big firms on the hunt1 Oct 2025 22:27
Just a brief outlook of what's going on in the pharma arena at the moment, a little clip on a page I was reading tonight on pharma deals and deals expiring for big companies.
The Case for M&A in 2025
This year is shaping up to be critical for large companies to replenish their pipelines as patent cliffs loom. Patents on 190 drugs are set to expire by 2030, and a drug’s price can drop as much as 90% after it loses patent protection.
Major players facing patent cliffs include:
Merck, whose drug Keytruda, which represents around 45% of the company’s total revenue, is set to start losing patent protection in 2028
Bristol-Myers Squibb, facing patent expiration for key products Opdivo, Eliquis, and Revlimid
Pfizer, which developed Eliquis jointly with Bristol-Myers Squibb, is also facing loss of patent exclusivity for the drug in 2028, on top of Prevna (a pneumonia shot, in 2026) and the cancer drugs Ibrance and Xtandi in 2027
Big Pharma’s deal capacity in 2025 is estimated to be more than $1.5 trillion, according to IQVIA. Already this year, Johnson & Johnson announced the acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc. for $14.6 billion, making it the largest deal in the sector since Pfizer acquired Seagen in 2023.
In March, Merck’s CFO was bullish, saying, “Business development remains a top priority for our company, and we will continue to augment our portfolio and our pipeline with scientifically focused, value-creating business development across all stages of development and commercialization and deals of all sizes.”
Consequently, those companies facing patent cliffs will likely be among the major players exploring strategic acquisitions. Concurrently, smaller biotech firms and midsized companies offering promising innovations, particularly in high-demand therapeutic areas such as oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and cardio-metabolic conditions, are expected to become highly attractive targets.
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