Week of July 11, 2025

The Week at a Glance:

• Markets finish flat due to renewed trade threats: Major indices retreated from record highs posted on Thursday due to Trump announcing revised tariff rates on numerous countries

• Commercial biopharma M&A continues: Merck is strengthening their respiratory portfolio by acquiring Verona Pharma for $10.0B, marking the second largest acquisition this year and highlighting the trend of buyers focusing on de-risked commercial-stage targets

  • Verona’s asset, Ohtuvayre, was approved for the maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in June 2024

  • The acquisition price represents a 3-3.5x multiple of the peak projected sales of Ohtuvayre

• Follow-ons finally see some action: While follow-ons had a lackluster 2025 YTD in deal volume and value, last week saw a promising amount of deal activity with five deals announced raising an aggregate of $607.6M

Markets Overview

• The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow ended the week flat/down 0.3%, 0.1%, and 1.0%, respectively

  • The White House renewed attacks against Powell, drawing heightened scrutiny from the bond market

  • Trump’s tariff war was reignited by applying higher tariffs on 14 countries that will go into effect on
    August 1

  • Most notably of all announced tariffs, due to Canada being the US’s largest trading partner, the US increased tariffs from 25% to 35% on Canadian imports, threatening further hikes if Canada retaliates

Healthcare indices outperformed the broader market with the NBI and NYSE Arca Pharma Index finishing up 1.4% and 0.8%, respectively

Notable changes in share price:

• ProKidney (NASDAQ: PROK): Shares ended the week up 588.1% after the Company reported positive data on its Phase 2 program targeting patients with chronic kidney disease and diabetes

• Ultragenyx (NASDAQ: RARE) and Mereo BioPharma (NASDAQ: MREO): Stocks finished down 25.5% and 45.2%, respectively, due to the announcement that their partnership-developed antibody treatment for a rare bone disease failed a second interim analysis in a pivotal trial

Sources: Pitchbook, Biomedtracker, and CapIQ

Equity Markets

IPO Markets:

No companies completed IPOs last week.

One company filed an S-1:

• Shoulder Innovations announced plans to raise $100.0M to support R&D and commercial growth plans for its shoulder arthroplasty products, which include both proprietary implants and procedure visualization software 

23 companies in total remain in the queue, of which only three intend to raise more than $30.0M in proceeds:

• Of these 23 companies, ten companies filed between Q4 2024 and today

Year-to-date, companies that have gone public in 2025 have had a median loss of 6.5%

Follow-On Offering Markets:

There were five completed follow-on equity offerings last week totaling $607.6M, including:

• Cogent Biosciences (NASDAQ: COGT) raised $230.0M to advance bezuclastinib, a small molecule KIT inhibitor being studied in systemic mastocytosis (SM) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST)

• Soleno Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SLNO) raised $200.0M to support commercialization of Vykat XR, the first therapy approved for hyperphagia in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome

• Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RYTM) raised $175.0M to continue commercializing and developing therapies for rare neuroendocrine diseases, such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome, POMC/LEPR-deficiency obesity, and acquired hypothalamic obesity

PIPE/RDO Markets:

• There were two PIPEs/RDOs last week totaling $6.0M

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