Key highlights from January:

• The trend of smaller cap names outperforming their larger peers throughout 2025 continued this month, with mid-cap biotechs falling behind the crowd
• 7 M&A and 41 licensing transactions were announced this month, versus 6 M&A and 38 licensing transactions announced in December; no large M&A deals occurred concurrent with the JPMorgan conference this year, though AbbVie, AstraZeneca, and Novartis announced large licensing transactions with Chinese biotechs
• Follow-on activity fell to 20 priced deals in January raising an aggregate of $3.7bn down from $5.8bn in December, led by Praxis’s $575mm offering
• AstraZeneca announced a $15bn investment in China through 2030 to expand R&D and manufacturing, reinforcing the country’s role as a global innovation hub, and complemented this by in-licensing cardiometabolic and obesity programs from CSPC Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at up to $18.5bn
• The Trump administration broadened Medicare drug price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act by adding 15 high-spend medicines, spanning major chronic and specialty categories, including Part B drugs for the first time, with negotiated prices expected to take effect in 2028
• IPO activity remains muted, with only one biopharma IPO (Aktis Oncology) pricing in January; however, the US pipeline includes ~10 publicly filed offerings – notably Eikon Therapeutics and AgomAb Therapeutics – and sentiment remains cautiously optimistic that improving biotech market conditions could gradually reopen the IPO window into 2026