Biopharma deals and M&A activity in 2024 continued to surge past the last two years, with deal value in the first three quarters jumping 14.5% year-over-year. The total climbed from $130.38 billion through 3Q23 to an impressive $149.24 billion so far in 2024, the highest value in the first nine months of a year, according to BioWorld’s records. Q3 alone saw $49.81 billion in deals, following a strong Q2 at $55.26 billion. Meanwhile, M&As skyrocketed 75.5% in 2024, hitting $98.02 billion, up from $55.82 billion during the first nine months of last year.

Biopharma deals and M&A activity in 2024 continued to surge past the last two years, with deal value in the first three quarters jumping 14.5% year-over-year. The total climbed from $130.38 billion through 3Q23 to an impressive $149.24 billion so far in 2024, the highest value in the first nine months of a year, according to BioWorld’s records. Q3 alone saw $49.81 billion in deals, following a strong Q2 at $55.26 billion. Meanwhile, M&As skyrocketed 75.5% in 2024, hitting $98.02 billion, up from $55.82 billion during the first nine months of last year.

Despite the ongoing war, speakers at Biomed Israel this week reported that business and investment in Israel’s med-tech industry continues largely unchanged.

The med-tech sector experienced some relief in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24) as total financings climbed to $6.38 billion, eclipsing the value of any quarter in 2023. For perspective, the final quarter of 2023 recorded $3.32 billion, and 1Q23 raised $4.69 billion, with an average of $4.42 billion in financings per quarter in 2023.

“In an impressive eight-month timeline,” South Korea’s Lunit Inc. completed the $193 million (AU$292 million) acquisition of Volpara Health Technologies Ltd. to globally advance artificial intelligence (AI)-based cancer care.

Med-tech deal value increased in April, reaching $172.37 million, a 538% bump from March’s $27 million. However, the monthly average for deal value in 2024 stands at $140.68 million, reflecting an 84% decline from the 2023 monthly average of $886.13 million.

Life science companies and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have not always seen eye to eye on issues such as compulsory licensing, but industry might be supportive of a remark by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai about companies that are provided with anticompetitive breathing by their host governments with noticeable anticompetitive effect. 

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings Inc. agreed to purchase select assets of Bioreference Health from Opko Health Inc. for $237.5 million in a deal slated to close in the second half of 2024. The transaction could be the start of a buying spree for the country’s second-largest independent laboratory testing service provider, as Labcorp management has laid out an acquisition strategy that focuses on higher-growth areas, particularly reproductive and women’s health.

Boston Scientific Corp. agreed to acquire neurostimulation company Axonics Inc. for $71 per share or $3.7 billion in total. Axonics focuses on stimulation of the sacral neve to treat overactive bladder and bowel dysfunction. It also offers a bulking agent to address stress urinary incontinence in women. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2024, pending approval of stockholders and regulators.

Roche Holding AG entered into a definitive agreement to buy Lumiradx Ltd.’s point-of-care technology platform for $350 million. The deal is part of Roche’s effort to transform its point-of-care portfolio and enable more patient-centric health care. For Lumiradx, the sale is the end of a journey to restructure and refocus the company and will result in it being delisted from Nasdaq.