Closed & Collaborative H2 2025: Mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, collaborations, and strategic agreements

From platform licensing in RNA and ADCs to consolidation in early‑phase clinical services and data‑driven alliances, the second half of 2025 showed pharma and healthcare leaning into partnerships that de‑risk innovation and compress time to market.

In this new instalment of Closed & Collaborative, H2 2025 is revealed to have been less about mega‑mergers and more about precision – precision modalities, precision data, and precision operations. It was a six‑month sprint of dealmaking that stitched together complementary capabilities across manufacturing, trial delivery, analytics, and commercialisation. For sponsors, payers, and providers, to platform companies, the signal was clear: collaboration is the quickest route to scale and resilience.

Consolidation with a launch‑readiness lens

On the manufacturing side, Alvotech moved assembly and packaging in‑house through its acquisition of Ivers‑Lee Group, a longstanding Swiss partner with GMP and FDA approvals for autoinjectors, pre‑filled syringes, safety devices, and vials. The integration, while preserving Ivers‑Lee as a separate legal entity for external customers, was timed to underpin multiple biosimilar launches in 2025 and absorb global demand without compromising quality.

Meanwhile, market‑entry and specialty expansion continued apace. Fidia Farmaceutici acquired UK ophthalmology company Altacor Ltd and Romania’s Meditrina Pharmaceuticals Srl, extending distribution of its hyaluronic‑acid–based eye‑care portfolio and deepening regional presence within a €150m 2025–26 plan. In medtech, Terumo agreed to buy Oxford spin‑out OrganOx, maker of the metra liver perfusion system, in one of the UK’s largest medtech exits – keeping OrganOx as a standalone division while leveraging Terumo’s worldwide footprint to accelerate adoption.

Clinical research networks also scaled. Nucleus Network acquired Hammersmith Medicines Research (HMR) to form the only early‑phase provider with dedicated facilities spanning Australia, the US, and the UK – thereby harmonising SOPs for first‑in‑human and adaptive designs and offering sponsors jurisdictional flexibility.

In the US, THL Partners signed a definitive agreement to acquire Headlands Research from KKR, aiming to build out a data‑driven, diverse site network with centralised infrastructure that tightens timelines and improves representativeness across CNS, vaccines, and metabolic trials.

Modality momentum via platform deals

Drug‑device convergence and platform licensing were hallmarks of H2. In CNS, Neuraxpharm entered a global co‑development with Dizlin Pharmaceuticals for Infudopa SubC, a wearable subcutaneous levodopa‑carbidopa infusion belt pump for advanced Parkinson’s – Neuraxpharm’s first drug–device combination, targeting continuous, flexible dosing and improved independence for patients.

Evonik and Ethris teamed up to co‑develop and market Ethris’s SNaP LNP platform, addressing long‑standing LNP constraints with improved thermostability and localised retention – and crucially enabling nebulised mRNA for respiratory indications. Evonik brings formulation and GMP manufacturing, while Ethris contributes the clinical‑stage delivery tech and pipeline.

In oncology, Lonza’s Synaffix granted Qurient access to its clinical‑stage ADC stack – GlycoConnect, HydraSpace, and exatecan‑based payloads – to build a dual‑payload ADC pairing Synaffix’s cytotoxic chemistry with Qurient’s CDK7 inhibitor. The aim? To broaden efficacy and mitigate payload resistance across solid tumours while controlling off‑target toxicity.

Radiopharmaceuticals also moved up the translational curve. Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) and Crown Bioscience formed a global alliance to integrate radiochemistry, high‑resolution microscopy, total‑body PET imaging, and advanced oncology models, offering an IND‑ready preclinical workflow that can reduce development risk and accelerate targeted radiotherapeutic programmes.

Precision & data: CDx, multi‑omics, and hospital AI

If H2 had a gravitational centre, it was data. Illumina expanded pharma CDx partnerships to enable KRAS claims on TruSight Oncology (TSO) Comprehensive, reinforcing a tumour‑agnostic path to targeted therapies with globally distributable genomic profiling.

Cost curves for multi‑omics kept bending downward, as well. Sapio Sciences partnered with Ultima Genomics – whose platform is associated with the “$100 genome” – to combine high‑throughput sequencing with AI‑powered LIMS/ELN/informatics, lowering per‑sample costs and hard‑wiring provenance and compliance for end‑to‑end analyses.

Inside the hospital, Imagene AI and Sheba Medical Center (ARC) expanded their precision oncology alliance, integrating digitised pathology slides, multi‑omic datasets, and longitudinal clinical records to power multimodal biomarker discovery and predictive models that can be applied in minutes within routine digital pathology workflows.

And beyond clinical systems, direct‑to‑patient evidence generation matured. PicnicHealth, Neurocrine Biosciences, and CARES Foundation advanced the CAHtalog registry, using AI‑curated medical records and remote participation to demonstrate the lifelong need for glucocorticoid dose adjustments in classic CAH – evidence with clear implications for payer policy and clinical pathways.

Clinical operations: Interoperability and site scale

Operationally, sponsors kept pushing for connected trial stacks. PHARMASEAL and Viedoc announced a technical integration between CTMS (Engility) and EDC (including Viedoc Clinic), recognised via the Viedoc Verified programme – reducing silos and manual reconciliation while supporting decentralised designs. In oncology, IQVIA agreed to acquire NEXT Oncology, strengthening US access to high‑throughput early‑phase cancer trials and real‑world data.

Digital health consolidation continued, too: Mindler acquired ieso Digital Health UK, combining typed/video CBT across 70+ NHS trusts with AI‑powered clinical tools – a scale play that matches widening demand and outcomes reporting for public and employer buyers.

Commercial platforms and regional JVs

On biologics and specialty medicines, Intas/Accord signed an agreement to acquire Prothya Biosolutions, adding significant EU plasma fractionation capacity and broadening global reach for PDMPs such as IVIG – an area forecast to grow from ~$30bn to ~$50bn by 2035. In Latin America, SteinCares entered Mexico via a JV with Laboratorios Carnot, blending regional licensing and commercialisation with local regulatory and market‑access expertise.

At the other end of the capital stack, KKR acquired a majority position in HealthCare Royalty Partners (HCRx) – a signal that royalty finance remains a durable complement to equity and credit in advancing late‑stage or niche rare‑disease programmes.

Vaccines, neurology, and antiviral discovery

In vaccines, Sanofi agreed to acquire Vicebio for $1.6bn, gaining the Molecular Clamp technology to develop multivalent next‑generation respiratory vaccines. Lead VXB‑241 (RSV/hMPV) reported favourable Phase 1 interim safety in adults ≥60.

On neurology, Servier executed two major moves: an ex‑US licensing deal with IDEAYA Biosciences for darovasertib (PKC inhibitor) across uveal melanoma settings, and the acquisition of KER‑0193 from Kaerus Bioscience for Fragile X syndrome (Orphan + Rare Pediatric Drug designations) post‑Phase 1 safety – Servier’s first neurology asset acquisition aligned with its 2030 strategy.

Finally, Kling Bio and Sanofi signed a collaboration and license option to leverage the Kling‑Select platform – using immortalised patient‑derived B-cells to discover rare, immuno‑functional antibodies and novel epitopes, building on proven credentials such as Beyfortus in RSV.

Overall, H2 2025 underscored a clear pivot toward collaborative innovation and operational convergence. From platform licensing in RNA, ADCs, and radiopharmaceuticals to integrated trial technologies and regional JVs, the sector favored partnerships that compress timelines, share risk, and unlock data-driven insights. For pharma and healthcare leaders, the message is unmistakable: competitive advantage now hinges on agility – through alliances that combine scientific depth, digital infrastructure, and global reach.

As we commence and move fully into 2026, expect these trends to accelerate, with early readouts and integration milestones shaping the next wave of precision medicine and commercialisation strategies.