Pharma deals seek novelty with heavy focus on first in class

Recent deal-making by pharma companies has emphasized first-in-class assets, new modality collaborations and small molecule discovery. Contrary to some perceptions, preclinical and early stage assets drive the bulk of the action, and pharmas valued many of those assets and technologies nearly as much as more advanced assets.

Pharma deals became one of the few resilient sources of capital for biotechs and exits for investors as the bear market dragged on, yet the difficult market for IPOs and follow-on financings over the last year, paired with the pressure to fill pipeline holes to address a major looming patent cliff across pharmas, did not lead to the anticipated increase in pharma deal flow...