Key highlights from May:

• Biotech markets picked up in May, with performance led by micro- and SMID-cap names, while specialty pharma continued to lag
• Deal activity slowed compared to April, with 11 M&A and 9 licensing transactions announced (vs. 15 M&A and 14 licensing in April); six M&A deals exceeded $1bn, led by Angelini/Catalyst, Bayer/Perfuse, UCB/Candid, Eli Lilly/Vaccine Company, Eli Lilly/Curevo, and ARCHIMED/Esperion
• One biopharma offering priced in May (Odyssey Therapeutics), with a U.S. backlog including 10 publicly filed IPOs; improving market conditions are supportive of a continued reopening of the window into 2026
• Follow-on financing activity decreased slightly, with 22 deals raising $3.7bn (vs. 26 deals / $5.9bn in April)
• Strong clinical execution continued to drive capital formation, with positive pivotal data propelling Cytokinetics (Myqorzo in non-obstructive HCM) and Viridian (elegrobart in chronic TED) higher and supporting sizeable follow-on financings ($700mm and $125mm, respectively); meanwhile, Summit/Akeso’s ivonescimab delivered a 34% OS benefit in 1L squamous NSCLC, though shares declined ~12% amid questions around patient mix and durability
• Leadership turnover at the FDA accelerated, with Commissioner Marty Makary resigning on May 12 and Kyle Diamantas appointed Acting Commissioner; acting CDER director Tracy Beth Høeg was removed, while acting CBER director Katherine Szarama was replaced by Karim Mikhail, resulting in significant changes across the agency’s senior drug and biologics review leadership
• Eli Lilly further strengthened its obesity franchise, reporting positive Phase 3 TRIUMPH-1 data for retatrutide, which achieved 28.3% average weight loss at 80 weeks and 30.3% at 104 weeks – approaching bariatric surgery-like efficacy and reinforcing its potential best-in-class profile
• On the policy front, the Trump administration expanded TrumpRx.Gov on May 18 to include more than 600 generic medicines, incorporating cash-pay pricing from Amazon Pharmacy, Cost Plus Drugs, and GoodRx and further advancing its direct-to-consumer drug pricing initiative alongside the 17 Most-Favored-Nation agreements reached with branded manufacturers since September 2025