The first quarter saw a hopeful glimmer in the IPO markets with a handful of biotechs taking the plunge, while Big Pharmas snapped up some small but impactful late-stage companies via M&A.
Editor’s note: Last year, we compiled a list of M&A as it happened through our tracker. This year, we’re taking a different approach with a quarterly wrap putting deal activity into context, with M&A and IPOs. Read on for Fierce Biotech’s Quarterly IPO and M&A Roundup.
The award for the biggest M&A deal of the first quarter of 2024 goes to Gilead Sciences, which acquired CymaBay Therapeutics for $4.43 billion in February, according to a review of data from market intelligence platform S&P Capital IQ. All three of these deals spoke to the Big Pharma trend of snapping up small-bite biotechs with a late-stage tilt.
The deal worked out to 68 euros ($73) per share, according to the companies’ announcement.
The deal marked a 97% premium to Fusion’s closing price the day before the March 19 announcement. Shareholders are up for another $400 million in milestones.
Further down the list, some smaller drug developers got in on the action, but mostly for reverse mergers and smaller pickups of companies or assets in deep trouble. One example is XOMA Corp. swooping in to save Kinnate Biopharma in February for $113 million. Kinnate began a slow slide almost exactly a year ago when phase 1 data for the pan-RAF inhibitor exarafenib in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring oncogenic BRAF or NRAS alterations disappointed at the American Association for Cancer Research 2023 annual meeting. The company cut 70% of staff in September 2023 and narrowed its pipeline. Avrobio also found a savior in Tectonic Therapeutic to execute a reverse merger with. The deal helped drum up $130.7 million in new financing from a handful of venture firms, leaving the new company with $165 million in cash and equivalents to move on with. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/17394821/
The first quarter saw a hopeful glimmer in the IPO markets with a handful of companies announcing plans to take the plunge.
The largest was CG Oncology, which had a total transaction value of $380 million and net proceeds of $353.4 million, according to S&P Capital IQ. The oncolytic immunotherapy company was the first of the year, announcing Jan. 2 and setting off a rush of biotechs following suit. Kyverna Therapeutics was one of them, filing the paperwork Jan. 16 to raise the second-highest amount of the quarter at $319 million with net proceeds of $297.7 million. Boundless Bio also wrapped things up at the beginning of March, raising a modest $100 million for its precision oncology work. The company priced the 6.25 million shares at $16 apiece, right in the middle of the $15 to $17 planned range. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/17397483/