Biotech's $106B Buying Spree Is Just Beginning

Biotech acquisitions reached $106 billion across 201 deals in H1 2026 as big pharma rushed to replace revenue lost to expiring drug patents

25 Jun 2026

Biotechnology mergers and acquisitions reached $106bn across 201 transactions in the first half of 2026, putting the sector on course for its strongest year since before the pandemic. The surge reflects growing pressure on large pharmaceutical companies to replace revenues threatened by a wave of patent expirations.

Rather than pursuing large mergers, companies including GSK, AbbVie and Lilly have focused on acquisitions valued between $1bn and $5bn. Buyers are increasingly targeting rare disease businesses with late-stage or near-commercial assets, where the risk of integration is lower and products can reach the market more quickly.

A PitchBook analyst told CNBC that acquisitions in the $1bn to $5bn range tend to cover a few specific products rather than a whole franchise, making them significantly easier to integrate than larger, more complex combinations.

The shift comes as nearly a dozen blockbuster medicines are expected to face generic competition by 2028, removing tens of billions of dollars in projected industry revenue. Many large drugmakers see targeted acquisitions as a faster and less disruptive way to strengthen their product portfolios than relying solely on internal research pipelines.

For smaller biotechnology companies, demand for late-stage assets is supporting valuations, particularly for rare disease programmes with established regulatory pathways. If the current pace continues through the second half of the year, 2026 could become one of the strongest years for biotechnology dealmaking in recent history, reinforcing the industry's preference for smaller, targeted acquisitions over large-scale mergers.