Adjuvanted Hepatitis B vaccine (Recombinant) (Dynavax)

iStock, nito100 Buying vaccine biotech Dynavax was an easy choice for Sanofi despite antivaccine moves by the Trump administration. “It’s a good time to do vaccine BD and M&A,” according to Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson. While vaccine sentiment is suffering amid the Trump administration’s rhetoric, Hudson says he’s playing the long game with Sanofi’s acquisition of Dynavax . “With the uncertainty, if you’re a short-term thinker, you don’t move. If you’re a long-term thinker—which is what we have to be—then there are less people to compete against to make acquisitions,” Hudson told reporters at a media breakfast in San Francisco on day three of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. To end 2025, Sanofi offered $2.2 billion to buy Dynavax. The center of that deal is the hepatitis B vaccine Heplisav-B. That the vaccine is for adults could help Sanofi overcome some of the vaccine hesitancy that is rising, particularly in America, Hudson said. “We know that the sensitivities are less in the adult context.” And it was those sensitivities that set the stage for the French drugmaker to pay what Hudson called an “appropriate price” for Dynavax. Elsewhere on the company’s business development (BD) bingo card, he also pointed to Sanofi’s July 2025 acquisition of Vicebio for $1.6 billion, scooping up a combination vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). “Those things will launch 5, 6, 7, 8 years from now. And so we have to assume that there’ll be a new administration or two between now and then,” Hudson said. “We don’t know what their sensitivities will be, but it’s okay, as long as there’s some objectivity in the regulator.” Hudson hinted that there could be more deals to come in the vaccine space. Sanofi’s legacy vaccine sales fell 8% in the third quarter and Hudson is predicting similar “softness” in the quarters to come. Hudson reiterated that the sales decline can be pinned on the “misinformation that is going around.” He noted the rise in measles cases as people opt out of vaccines. “We think it will settle down and we’ll move through it,” Hudson said. Sanofi has not provided guidance for 2026 yet. Hudson also spoke to recent vaccine schedule updates and other antivaccine actions at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The CEO suggested that people are capable of educating themselves when it comes to vaccines in partnership with their care providers. “The vast majority of people understand the benefit of vaccines and their lives and generations of their family have been protected that way,” Hudson said. “Not everybody looks to the top of the HHS to get people with their guidance on how to live their lives.” He continued: “So I think people should be respectful of all guidance given, but I think talking to their own healthcare professional is still probably the best thing to do.” Vaccines Pesky ‘Macro Factors’—aka RFK Jr.—Come for Vaccine Pharmas’ Wallets Following restricted vaccine approvals and changes to CDC immunization schedules, Merck, Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi are all suffering revenue hits to their vaccine programs. November 7, 2025 · 4 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read more The Next Moment Vicebio and Dynavax’s programs may be years out from FDA review, but Sanofi’s flu-COVID combo, licensed from Novavax, is not. Hudson expects regulatory review to happen in 2027 or 2028. That shot is “going to be the next moment, I think, for an acceleration on vaccine utilization,” Hudson said. The product will offer convenience with a one-and-done approach for both infectious diseases. And it will be the only non-mRNA COVID shot available in the U.S. for those who do not want to receive a shot featuring that technology. “We think people are still very vaccine literate. We think they understand the reactogenicity or the tolerability challenges of mRNA,” Hudson said. Those post-vaccine reactions may have been tolerated during the global pandemic, but that’s not the case anymore, the CEO explained. He expects Sanofi will garner the over-55 and over-65 markets, particularly as the combo can offer a high dose needed for older people, who are at higher risk of death from the flu. “While there may be debates on Facebook and other places, the over-65s, I think, are highly motivated to get protected,” Hudson said, “because they know they are the ones that are most vulnerable.”

iStock, Alona Horkova While Novartis secured the biggest deal of the fourth quarter, a handful of riveting tales emerged from the bottom of the M&A list, including a zombie buyout and a bidding war. And no, we’re not talking about Metsera. The biggest deal of the fourth quarter was Novartis’ $11.3 billion takeover of neuromuscular specialist Avidity Biosciences, but a handful of small, biotech-on-biotech transactions in the eight- to nine-figure range made for a spirited quarter. Besides the Novartis deal, there were seven transactions that landed in the billion-dollar range, including Merck’s $9.2 billion Cidara Therapeutics deal andNovo Nordisk’s buy of MASH-focused Akero Therapeutics for $4.9 billion. Sanofi and BioMarin also got in a few deals under the wire before Christmas. Sanofi picked up vaccine maker Dynavax in a deal valued at $2.2 billion. The biotech will contribute an approved hepatitis B vaccine called Heplisav-B and a singles vaccine candidate to the French drugmaker. Meanwhile, BioMarin has offered $4.8 billion to buy Amicus Therapeutics, gaining two approved rare disease therapies . The list comes from S&P Capital IQ’s database of deals announced in the fourth quarter. There were 20 total deals for the quarter. Pfizer’s dramatic showdown with Novo for Metsera, for a final pricetag of $9.8 billion, is not included, as the New York pharma announced its purchase of the obesity startup back in Q3. This list does contain a collection of deals between smaller companies. Alkermes, with a market cap of just $4.6 billion, bought sleep biotech Avadel for $2.1 billion, after a brief bidding war with Lundbeck. Mergers & acquisitions Avidity Played Hardball To Land Favorable Terms in $12B Novartis Deal At one point in merger negotiations with Novartis, Avidity CEO Sarah Boyce and her team walked, cutting off access to a data room and moving on to a capital raise. November 25, 2025 · 3 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read More That back and forth was perhaps inspired by the protracted Metsera deal, easily the craziest M&A action of the quarter thanks to Novo’s rival, unsolicited proposal. But Pfizer secured its prize thanks to regulatory security, and the deal closed in November. Lower down the list was Mirum Pharmaceuticals’ acquisition of rare disease biotech Bluejay Therapeutics in early December, valued at $805 million. The deal centered on brelovitug , a Phase III antibody for chronic hepatitis delta virus (HDV). An ominous deal on the list is XOMA Royalty’s offer to buy Generation Bio for $55 million. XOMA is known as a biotech cleanup crew, picking up struggling companies to break them down into pieces for remaining value. In the third quarter, XOMA picked up three struggling companies. It returned in Q4 for Generation, after a tough year that saw the bulk of the company’s staff let go in April. Mergers & acquisitions How Akero’s MASH Success Drove Roche’s $3.5B Takeout of 89bio Regulatory documents show how 89bio’s board pushed Roche hard for a deal valued at $20 per share in upfront and milestone payments. October 2, 2025 · 3 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read More Check out BioSpace ’s other quarterly roundups for 2025: M&A, IPOs Snarled by Policy Reality in Q1 as Pharmas Opt for Licensing Deals June’s Busy Buyout Binge Bolsters M&A Stats for H1 Q3 Saw Some of the Highest-Value Biopharma Acquisitions of the Year So Far .responsive-container { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; border: 1px solid #ededed; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif; padding: 20px 20px 10px 20px; } .column-left { flex: 1; max-width: 45%; padding: 20px 20px 10px 20px; } .column-right { flex: 2; padding: 20px 20px 10px 20px; } @media (max-width: 768px) { .column-left, .column-right { max-width: 100%; flex: 100%; padding: 10px 0; } } Subscribe to BioPharm Executive! Market insights, trending business and policy stories for biopharma leaders hbspt.forms.create({ region: "na1", portalId: "4413123", formId: "7c139b3c-ff0b-44e0-bffe-f449801dca59", onFormSubmitted: function($form, data) { window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; window.dataLayer.push({ 'event': 'GTMevent', 'event_name': 'newsletter_sign_up' }); } });