Latest Deals

The deal with CSPC came just a day after AstraZeneca also announced it would invest $15bn in China by 2030. Credit: Robert Way/Shutterstock.com

AstraZeneca has outlaid up to $18.5bn in a licensing deal with China-based CSPC Pharmaceuticals to develop longer lasting weight-loss drugs, becoming the latest drugmaker to eye entry into the lucrative obesity market. AstraZeneca will pay $1.2bn upfront for access to eight obesity and type 2 diabetes programmes. CSPC is eligible for a further $3.5bn if development and regulatory milestones are met across the programmes, as well as royalties on any drugs approved via the partnership.

In a bid to bolster its immunology portfolio, GSK is acquiring food allergy specialist RAPT Therapeutics for up to $2.2bn. This buyout, which is one of the first major deals of 2026, will see the UK-based pharma pay $58.00 per share at closing, reaching an approximate aggregate equity value of $2.2bn. This will see GSK pay significantly more for each of RAPT’s stocks compared with its closing stock value on 16 January, which sat at $35.10 per share. 

In a move that continues a recent bolstering of its gene therapy pipeline, Eli Lilly has signed a global research collaboration and licensing agreement with gene editing company Seamless Therapeutics. The partnership will see the two companies develop and commercialise programmable recombinase-based treatments targeting hearing loss indications. 

Pfizer has signed a deal worth up to $530m with US-based vaccine technology company Novavax. This agreement will see Pfizer hand over $30m upfront for the non-exclusive rights to Novavax’s proprietary Matrix-M vaccine adjuvant, which is designed to boost and prolong the immune response when added to an injectable formulation. Pfizer will be wholly responsible for the development and commercialisation of any vaccine products created using Matrix-M while Novavax will be responsible for the manufacturing and supply of the adjuvant to Pfizer.