Among 2024’s modest M&A action, cancer, immunology and neuroscience deals trickle in

Blame the uncertainty of an election year, stricter regulations or the long tail of the COVID-19 pandemic, but smaller deals have dominated pharma M&A in 2024. In fact, not a single deal announcement outside of the manufacturing plays by GLP-1 makers has surpassed $5 billion this year.

Still, M&A remains a critical cog in the biopharma machine, refilling mature pipelines with new drug candidates and giving smaller biotechs financial and structural support to bring medications to market. It’s just happening at a smaller scale.