‘Buying stuff like it’s going out of fashion’: Biotech M&A on track for best year since pre-Covid

Key points

• In this article XBI GSK LLY Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Global biopharma M&A is experiencing a sharp uptick, putting the sector on track for its strongest year since the pre-pandemic peak seven years ago.
• Driven by looming patent cliffs, newly buoyant public markets, and Big Pharma's race to beef up their pipelines, dealmaking so far in 2026 amounted to $106 billion over 201 deals, according to PitchBook data.
• If the current pace of biopharma M&A holds up for the rest of the year, the industry could be on track to notch more than $250 billion in deal value, marking the strongest year for biotech and pharma since the 2019 peak.
• We've seen pharma companies "really buying stuff like it's going out of fashion," Head of Life Sciences and Healthcare Equity Research at HSBC, Rajesh Kumar, told CNBC.
• Following a post-pandemic trough in 2022 and a softer 2024...