Biotechnology Investment Trends

She replaced $50 fertilizer with $2 bacteria. Farmers saved $25 billion 🦠🌱 ---------- In the late 1970s, a young Brazilian woman named Mariangela Hungria entered soil science—a field dominated by men who believed fertility came from chemicals. Her Professors told her to choose a different path. She refused. Her idea was simple but radical: instead of expensive synthetic fertilizers, what if we could use naturally occurring bacteria to feed nitrogen to plants? Nitrogen is essential for plant growth. Most farmers buy it in chemical form—expensive, polluting, and often imported. But certain bacteria can pull nitrogen directly from the air and deliver it to plant roots. The problem was getting it to work at scale. Hungria spent four decades perfecting it. She studied rhizobia bacteria that form relationships with legume roots. She found that treating soybean seeds with the right bacterial strains could increase yields by 8% compared to synthetic fertilizers. Then she isolated strains of another bacteria, Azospirillum brasilense, that could boost nitrogen uptake even further. Combining both doubled the yield increase. But she didn't just stay in the lab. She spent as much time in farmers' fields as she did doing research. She held field days, wrote manuals in Portuguese, and convinced skeptical farmers to try her methods. The results? Her microbial treatments are now used on 85% of Brazil's soybean fields—over 40 million hectares. Farmers spend just $2-3 per hectare on bacterial inoculant versus $30-50 on synthetic fertilizer. Brazil's soybean production went from 15 million tons in 1979 to 173 million tons today. The environmental impact is massive: 230 million metric tons of CO2 emissions prevented annually. And because farmers don't need to buy expensive imported fertilizers, they save an estimated $25 billion per year. In 2025, Hungria won the World Food Prize—often called the Nobel Prize of food and agriculture—for her work. https://lnkd.in/gTagmSSU "Replacing the use of chemicals with biologicals in agriculture has been the fight of my life," she said. "I like to say Norman Borlaug made the Green Revolution possible, and we had this great opportunity to start a 'Micro Green Revolution'—but with microorganisms." 📌Sources: Washington Post, World Food Prize Foundation, Down to Earth ✓Read and learn more: https://lnkd.in/gaPgE6C6 https://lnkd.in/gwF3Wiy4 https://lnkd.in/gNWTzwSs https://lnkd.in/gBNQRZKd https://lnkd.in/g4tdwnsw https://lnkd.in/gqYE24Sk https://lnkd.in/gRbyGmfb https://lnkd.in/gia3CWec https://lnkd.in/gvF4HNJv https://lnkd.in/g6g37FUN https://lnkd.in/g9wcCmwW https://lnkd.in/guvH3cvR ✓Peer-Reviewed Scientific Publications: https://lnkd.in/g5YXQBUh https://lnkd.in/gK8rR-hX https://lnkd.in/gnUeHymZ https://lnkd.in/gKNc3AMX ✓Watch this and learn more: https://lnkd.in/gtvzu6eR Credits: CTTO

For years, biotech venture capital fueled early innovation, making risky bets, chasing big exits and tolerating long timelines. I grew up in that market but today, we’re witnessing a tectonic shift. VC funding for preclinical biotech is down 60% since 2021. Startups are stalling midstream, Series A rounds are elusive and risk appetite has evaporated. This market is no longer built for singular, bold, early-stage breakthroughs. And where VC has pulled back, private equity is stepping in. 🐋 Historically focused on commercial-stage roll-ups, PE firms are now filling the gap VC left behind. Their structure allows them to provide deep capital and double down as builders, operators and strategic architects. Unlike most biotech VCs, PE firms: - Focus on operational value creation - Are experts in cash flow and capital structuring - Use non-dilutive financing, hybrid JVs, and NewCos - Invest in infrastructure-heavy plays like CDMOs, CROs, platforms. They're moving into territory VCs have vacated, increasingly building company portfolios from shelved pharma assets, launching holding companies that streamline overlapping R&D and buying control to fix execution and cost structures. Firms like GHO Capital Partners LLP, ARCHIMED and EW Healthcare Partners are assembling full-stack life science platforms with capital, talent and strategy under one roof. Others like Patient Square Capital and Permira are going further, hiring biotech leadership in-house and building internal venture studios with private equity rigor. This emerging model combines a cash-flow lens, a portfolio mindset and a bias for structure and scale. The PE playbook, now applied to biotech. But this model isn’t without risk. Drug development isn’t a factory, science fails, timelines (always) slip. Centralization can backfire. If PE leans too hard on financial engineering without understanding the regulatory, clinical or translational nuance, they risk destroying the very value they seek to unlock. But if done right, in 3–5 years, we’ll see a wave of derisked, asset-rich biotech companies backed by PE knocking on NYSE and Nasdaq doors. The volume could re-energize public markets and offer prime fishing grounds for large pharma looking to refill pipelines. I'm excited to see how this plays out. #BiotechFinance #PrivateEquity #DrugDevelopment #LifeSciences #VentureCapital #NewModels Artwork: Francesco Ciccolella

Drug deals help pharma giants move the needle 💉 The bio and pharma partnership landscape is intensifying – with Bristol-Myers Squibb and BioNTech’s partnership the latest in a flurry of activity in the space. Bristol-Myers Squibb has been extraordinarily active in forming strategic partnerships, particularly in cutting-edge therapeutic areas. Recent major deals include: AI and Technology Partnerships ↳Perpetual Medicines: $55 million upfront plus $55 million equity investment, with up to $3.5 billion in potential milestone payments for cell therapy development using prime editing technology ↳VantAI: Partnership for molecular glues development using generative AI, with potential for up to $674 million in research milestone payments ↳Terray Therapeutics: Multi-target collaboration leveraging the tNova platform for small molecule therapeutics discovery Broader Therapeutic Focus ↳BioArctic: $100 million upfront with up to $1.25 billion in milestone payments for Alzheimer's drug licensing ↳Scenic Biotech: Research collaboration utilizing Cell-Seq platform for drug target development This aggressive partnership strategy reflects Bristol-Myers Squibb's focus on "predictive science to reduce drug development costs and expedite treatment discovery", as the company transitions from legacy products to its growth portfolio, which now accounts for over half of its revenue. Broader Industry Trends The partnership intensity reflects broader market dynamics in the AI-derived biological drugs space, which has seen $2.9 billion in funding over the past two years as companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb seek to leverage AI for more efficient drug development. Based on recent partnership activity, six key therapeutic areas are driving the highest-value strategic alliances, with oncology leading the pack in terms of both deal size and frequency. 1. Oncology 2. AI-Powered Drug Discovery 3. Immunology 4. Neuroscience & CNS Disorders 5. Obesity & Metabolic Diseases 6. Genetic Therapeutics These therapeutic areas reflect broader market dynamics where AI integration has become the common denominator, enabling more efficient drug discovery across all categories. Increased partnership volume demonstrates how established pharma companies are securing access to next-generation immunotherapies through strategic alliances in addition to internal R&D and acquisitions. As the race for the oncology market intensifies, expect more deals across partnerships, investments, and M&A.

2025 kicks off pharma’s steepest patent cliff in decades: $25B in sales already losing protection, and $300B more to follow. Here’s how it’s reshaping biotech M&A: More than $25B in U.S. drug sales: from J&J, Amgen, and Novartis will lose exclusivity this year. When patents expire, prices in the US, the largest global market, typically fall 80–90% within 12 months. And this is only the beginning. Between 2025 and 2030, over $180–$300B in branded revenue will vanish as drugs like Keytruda, Eliquis, and Opdivo reach expiry. Companies such as Amgen, BMS, and Merck face up to 60% of revenue exposure. Internal R&D can’t close that gap fast enough, so leaders are using M&A and platform deals to rebuild growth beyond 2030. Here's why these deals look different: Pharma isn’t buying single drugs anymore. They’re buying platforms and modalities: RNA, in vivo delivery, and precision biologics, that can create multiple programs and absorb future cliffs. Late-stage assets with clear payer pathways in cardio-metabolic, neuro, oncology, and immunology command the highest premiums. Deal structures now favor larger upfronts for de-risked assets, milestone-based payments for early platforms, and regional co-development to accelerate launches. Look at some examples of recent deals shaping the trend: 1. Novartis → Avidity Biosciences ($12B): Acquired an RNA-antibody platform to sustain post-2029 growth A platform and manufacturing play, not a one-asset buy 2. Amgen, BMS, Merck: • Amgen’s $27.8B Horizon deal diversified its portfolio ahead of autoimmune and bone-drug expirations (Enbrel, Prolia). • BMS added Karuna, Mirati, and RayzeBio to offset losses from Eliquis and Opdivo. • Merck is investing in in vivo delivery before Keytruda, its top-selling cancer therapy loses exclusivity. Bloomberg reports 20+ major pharma-biotech acquisitions this year alone. Here's what sellers should do: • Be M&A-ready: keep IP filings clean, CMC validated, and payer dossiers ready. Deals move fast when data rooms are current. • Show scalability: highlight how your platform generates multiple assets and reduces COGS. Buyers pay for repeatability, not one-offs. • Structure for speed: pre-define tech-transfer milestones and regional co-dev options to align timelines and incentives. The takeaways for executives? 1. Patent cliffs are the forcing function behind today’s megadeals. 2. The winners are buying platform capacity and late-stage durability, not one-off assets. 3. Expect deal momentum through 2027 as pharmas prepare for 2028–2030 expirations. RNA, in vivo delivery, and precision biologics are the next safe harbors. Are you treating the cliff as an opening, or a risk to survive? Is your platform scalable, manufacturable, and payer-ready? At Kybora.com, we help biotech leaders align capital, capability, and story before the window closes.

Biopharma acquisitions H1/24   # of deals and cumulative deal volume: 26 deals*, at least $34bn   Top 5 deals by volume: ·        Alpine Immune Sciences - Vertex: $4.9bn (ALPN-303: pot. best-in-class dual BAFF/APRIL antagonist for IgAN; Ph 3 in H2/24) ·        CymaBay – Gilead: $4.3bn (seladelpar: pot. best-in-disease PPARd agonist for PBC; anticipated FDA approval in Q3/24) ·        Morphosys – Novartis: €2.7bn (pelabresib: BET inhibitor for MF; reg. filing in H2/24; tulmimetostat: dual inhibitor of EZH2/1 for solid tumors/lymphomas; in Ph 1/2) ·        Deciphera Pharmaceuticals – Ono Pharmaceutical: $2.4bn (QINLOCK; widely approved for 4L GIST) ·        Fusion Pharmaceuticals – AstraZeneca: $2bn + $3 CVR (FPI-2265: actinium-based radioconjugate targeting PSMA for mCRPC; in Ph 2)   Therapeutic focus areas of most active buyers: ·        Novartis (4 deals): oncology (MF, solid tumors), autoimmune/inflammatory diseases (celiac disease, eosinophilic esophagitis) ·        J&J (3 deals): inflammatory diseases (atopic dermatitis, asthma), oncology (ADC for mCRPC) ·        Merck (3 deals): oncology (SCLC, neuroendocrine tumors, ADC platform), ophthalmology (DME, NVAMD) ·        AstraZeneca (2 deals): oncology (mCRPC), endocrine disease (hypoparathyroidism) ·        AbbVie (2 deals): autoimmune/inflammatory diseases (IBD, UC)   Premiums ·        Highest: c.160% (Landos Biopharma – AbbVie; first-in-class Ph2 asset for UC) ·        Average: 84% (excludes Inhibrix deal) ·        Companies commanding above average premiums had assets that were (i) in Ph 1/2 or Ph 2, (ii) targeting oncology (ADC, radioconjugate, hard to treat tumors) or autoimmune/inflammatory indication   Advisors   Most frequent sell side financial advisors by # of deals (aggregate count based on lead / co-advisor status): ·        Centerview Partners: 16 deals / c.62% of total deal count ·        Lazard / Goldman Sachs / BofA: 3 deals / c.12% each ·        Morgan Stanley: 2 deals / c.8%   Most frequent sell side legal advisors by # of deals: ·        Goodwin Procter: 8 deals / c.31% ·        Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom: 4 deals / c.15% ·        Cooley: 3 deals / c.12% ·        Fenwick & West / DLA Piper: 2 deals /c.8% each   Most frequent buy side financial advisors by # of deals (limited data): ·        Lazard / Goldman Sachs / BofA: 2 deals / c.8% each Most frequent buy side legal advisors by # of deals: ·        Covington & Burling: 4 deals / c.15% ·        Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: 3 deals / c.12% ·        Davis Polk & Wardwell / Cleary Gottlieb Stehen & Hamilton: 2 deals / c.8% each   Acquired companies, by geographic origin ·        17xU.S. (65%), 7xEurope (27%; 2xDE; 1xCH, NL, UK, FR, SE each), 1xCA, 1xIL   Acquired U.S. companies, by area ·        Bay area (5) ·        Boston (4) ·        San Diego (3) ·        U.S. other (3) ·        Seattle (2)   * deal volume >$100m and/or big biotech/pharma involvement

After a week of conversations at JPM, the patterns are clear, and they align with our thesis. Capital, talent, and economics are rapidly reorganizing around three key axes: computation, precision, and prevention. Next week, we're releasing the Breyer Capital 2026 Healthcare & Life Sciences Predictions—ten inflection points where technological maturity meets market readiness, featuring perspectives from our top portfolio companies. Going into the long weekend, here are three predictions we feel most strongly about: 1 - The Great HealthTech Consolidation: 2026 will be a banner year for private market healthcare tech M&A. Distribution became the defining moat in 2025, with portfolio company leaders like OpenEvidence and Abridge deploying at scale. Over the next 12 months, boardrooms will grapple with the question: consolidate to achieve distribution dominance and defend economics, or get acquired before commoditization erodes market position and valuation. 2 - Clinical AI Enters Both the Exam Room and the Boardroom: The greatest impact of AI in medicine will be measurement—removing longstanding observational constraints by quantifying new signals from audio, video, wearables, and molecular data. Our portfolio companies such as ArteraAI, Cleerly, and Iterative Health are already converting continuous biological signals into actionable clinical insights. This year, we will strengthen business models that reward AI measurement capabilities across providers, payers, and life sciences, with CMS's ACCESS model launching July 2026 providing a critical tailwind. 3 - The In Vivo Renaissance Accelerates: Cell and gene therapy is shifting from ex vivo approaches costing $1M+ per patient to in vivo delivery that edits cells directly inside the body, transforming both economics and access. In vivo delivery vehicles now achieve tissue-specific targeting with acceptable safety profiles, and can be manufactured at scale like traditional biologics. In 2026, more in vivo leaders will emerge, possessing differentiated delivery technology and manufacturing approaches achieving pharma-scale economics. Full report drops next week! Jim Breyer Daniel Breyer Bret Bostwick, MD, FAAP, FACMG

Biologicals: The Key to Unlocking Next-Level Productivity!! Crop productivity has hit a stagnation point, primarily due to the saturation of chemical fertilizers. Despite increased application, chemical inputs are no longer delivering substantial gains in yield. To break through this ceiling, the next leap in productivity must come from innovative solutions like biologicals. Biologicals, such as nano biofertilizers, biostimulants, and bio-pesticides, present an advanced, sustainable approach to crop nutrition and growth. Unlike chemical fertilizers that often deplete soil health, biologicals work in harmony with the soil ecosystem, boosting nutrient availability, enhancing plant resilience, and improving overall soil fertility. One of the game-changing advantages of biologicals is their efficacy when applied via foliar methods. Nano biofertilizers and biostimulants, delivered directly to plant leaves, can be absorbed more efficiently than synthetic fertilizers applied through the soil. This targeted approach allows plants to access essential nutrients immediately, optimizing growth without the environmental runoff issues common with traditional fertilizers. Moreover, biologicals can be customized to align with different phases of the crop cycle. Whether it's vegetative growth, root zone development, or the reproductive phase, biologicals can be precisely formulated to meet the plant's specific needs at each stage. This level of customization is a major step forward in maximizing the productivity of field crops, ensuring plants get the right support at the right time for optimal growth and yield. As we face the twin challenges of increasing global food demand and preserving environmental sustainability, biologicals are emerging as the critical tool for the future of farming. By adopting these innovative, nature-based solutions, we can push productivity to new heights, sustainably. Now is the time to shift from chemical dependence to biologically powered agriculture.

Big news in cancer diagnostics today. Abbott is buying Exact Sciences in a deal valued around $23 Billion dollars. That number is so big it almost distracts from what’s actually happening underneath it. I’ve been watching this space for years, and the signal here is loud. Cancer screening isn’t a niche innovation lane anymore. It’s becoming infrastructure. And Abbott just decided it wants to own the pipes. Exact brings more than $3 billion in revenue and high teens growth. Abbott’s diagnostics business jumps past $12 billion. They’re willingly absorbing near term earnings drag because they see what everyone in GI and oncology is already feeling in clinic. Earlier detection is where the world is moving. What stands out to me is the ecosystem they’re buying. Cologuard. Cologuard Plus. Oncotype DX. Multi cancer early detection blood tests. Molecular residual disease monitoring. Genetic risk tools. It’s the entire arc of the cancer journey, from the first hint of risk to the decisions made after treatment. And now all of that sits inside a company with global reach. From a GI perspective, this is going to push screening even further upstream. More patients detected before symptoms. More noninvasive testing. More risk stratification before anyone gets near specialty care. The funnel shifts and definition of early changes. When companies make bets this size, they’re not betting on a product. They’re betting on a direction. The direction here is obvious: Earlier signals, broader access and scaled prevention.

Novartis dropped $1.75 billion on Mariana Oncology. AstraZeneca grabbed Fusion Pharmaceuticals for $2 billion. Bristol Myers Squibb paid $4.1 billion for RayzeBio. The radiopharmaceutical renaissance isn't just about science - it's about talent wars. Here's what most hiring managers are missing: These aren't just drug acquisitions. They're talent consolidation plays. When Novartis bought Advanced Accelerator Applications, they weren't just securing lutetium-177 supply chains. They were hoarding nuclear medicine expertise that takes 10+ years to develop. The data tells the story: → Zevalin proved the concept in 2002 but failed commercially due to logistics complexity → Pluvicto cracked the code with 29% response rates and 8.7-month progression-free survival → Now every major pharma is scrambling for radiopharmaceutical talent But here's the talent reality: You can't train a nuclear medicine specialist overnight. These professionals need specialized facility experience, radiation safety certifications, and deep isotope handling knowledge. The hiring bottleneck isn't funding - it's finding people who understand both oncology and nuclear chemistry. Companies winning this space aren't just buying drugs. They're buying teams with institutional knowledge that competitors can't replicate quickly. For hiring managers: Start building relationships with nuclear medicine professionals now. The talent pool is finite, and the demand just exploded. For job seekers: If you have radiopharmaceutical experience, you're sitting on gold. Even peripheral expertise in isotope logistics or specialized manufacturing is suddenly valuable. What's your take—will this M&A trend create enough new roles to justify the investment, or are we seeing a talent bubble? #Biotech #Radiopharmaceuticals #TalentAcquisition #Hiring #MIMS #Olinda