Big pharma’s dealmaking appetite remains strong in 2026, but the strategic logic has shifted decisively toward platform access over outright company acquisitions.
Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE: LLY) and China’s InnoCare Pharma signed a research collaboration and license agreement on Thursday covering up to five undisclosed targets across cancer and autoimmune disease.
InnoCare is eligible to receive as much as $100 million in upfront and near-term payments, with an additional $3.25 billion available through development and commercial milestones, plus single-digit royalties.
The deal adds another China-origin discovery alliance to Lilly’s roster, continuing a year that has already been crowded with acquisitions and licensing activity for the Indianapolis-based drugmaker.
Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) struck a separate platform deal, licensing Nanexa’s PharmaShell coating technology for long-acting peptide injectables targeting obesity, type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic conditions.
The exclusive global agreement covers up to five programs aimed at achieving monthly or quarterly dosing intervals, with Novo taking full responsibility for development and commercial operations.
Nanexa stands to earn up to €1.165 billion, equivalent to roughly $1.33 billion, including €615 million in upfront payments and development and regulatory milestones, along with low single-digit royalties.
AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) launched a multi-year AI-driven drug discovery alliance with Iambic, targeting small molecules across immunology, neuroscience and oncology, with Iambic receiving an undisclosed upfront payment plus milestones and royalties.
Iambic filed for a Nasdaq IPO during the same week it announced the AbbVie collaboration, signaling growing investor confidence in AI-native drug discovery businesses.
Novartis (NYSE: NVS) rounded out the week’s activity by licensing a preclinical radioligand therapy from BoomRay in a deal valued at up to $900 million plus royalties, with the upfront payment left undisclosed.
This week’s transactions were notably smaller and more modular than the blockbuster company-buying wave that defined the opening months of 2026, when AstraZeneca licensed eight obesity and diabetes programs from China’s CSPC for up to $18.5 billion.
February and March then saw full-scale takeovers dominate the headlines, with Gilead paying approximately $7.8 billion for Arcellx’s late-stage CAR-T franchise, Lilly committing up to $7.8 billion for Centessa’s orexin sleep drugs, and Merck bidding $6.7 billion for Terns.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around LLY was neutral at the time of publication, while sentiment around NVO was described as extremely bullish despite the stock falling 24% year-to-date.
Sentiment around both ABBV and NVS trended bearish, even as ABBV has gained 16% year-to-date and NVS has added 6% over the same period.
The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSE: XBI) has surged 27% in 2026, though it pulled back 2.5% during the week that these platform deals were announced.
