The William Blair biopharma team recaps key financing and strategic transaction activity from 2024, a year defined by resilience and recovery. While 2024 started promisingly, macro headwinds resurfaced in the summer, and key healthcare nominations from the incoming presidential administration created uncertainty heading into 2025. Despite the volatility, the sector demonstrated its capacity for innovation and adaptability through robust public financing, creative deal structures, and a renewed focus on pipeline optimization.
Strength in biopharma financings was punctuated by increased crossover activity, steady IPO momentum in the second half of the year, and record secondary financing activity (follow-ons, PIPEs, and RDs). However, M&A in the sector slowed materially as major acquisitions were concentrated on the private side, with only 11 public M&A deals in 2024 completed for over $1 billion (compared to 21 in 2023). Moreover, 2024 was the first year since 2012 in which no acquisition in the sector was valued at greater than $10 billion.
Amid this shifting landscape, we remain optimistic for the sector in 2025 as lower interest rates, new FTC leadership (and thus looser reins on M&A), and a growing backlog of high-quality IPOs should fuel investor interest.
Our team is available if you have any questions or would like to discuss in further detail. We hope you have a great start to the New Year, and we look forward to catching up in 2025.
Complete the form below to download a copy of the report.