Week of June 26, 2026

The Week at a Glance:

• Biotech M&A Continues at a Blistering Pace: Merck KGaA announced its $11.3B acquisition of Bio-Techne, its largest deal in a decade, while AbbVie acquired Phase 3 I&I company Apogee for $10.9B

• Psychedelics Show Promise: Definium reported positive Phase 3 MDD data for its serotonergic psychedelic, meeting the primary and key secondary endpoints, and raised $805M following the readout

• Potential FDA Leadership Change: Former FDA oncology chief Richard Pazdur is reportedly being considered for a senior leadership role at the agency 

   

Markets Overview

Biotech markets meaningfully outperformed broader indices as continued M&A momentum and positive clinical data further bolstered investor confidence

The Dow was up 0.6%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down 2.0% and 4.6%, respectively, last week

• Weak after-market performance for SpaceX following its IPO prompted a broader tech selloff, with the Magnificent Seven leading the decline and falling 5.5% last week

The NYSE Pharma and NBI were up 9.3% and 7.6%, respectively, last week

Notable changes in share price:

• Definium (NASDAQ: DFTX): Shares rose 83.6% after the Company reported positive topline results from its Phase 3 in major depressive disorder, where DT120 ODT, a serotonergic psychedelic, met all primary and secondary endpoints

Sources: Pitchbook, Biomedtracker, and CapIQ

Equity Markets

IPO

No IPOs priced or S-1s were filed last week

IPOs priced in 2025 and 2026 have generated a median and average return of 38.7% and 31.3% YTD, respectively

After-Market Performance by Stage

• Clinical-stage after-market performance: 59.6% (average), 38.2% (median)

• Commercial-stage after-market performance: 17.9% (average), 11.1% (median)

After-Market Performance by Sector

• Biopharma: 59.6% (average), 38.2% (median)

• MedTech: 12.9 (average), 9.1 (median)

  
  
  

Follow On

Follow-on activity was led by Definium Therapeutics, with investor interest remaining strong across late-stage neurology

• Additional financing activity was concentrated in catalyst-driven stories, including uniQure’s renewed regulatory path for AMT-130 in Huntington’s disease, MoonLake’s sonelokimab following Week 52 VELA data and a clearer BLA pathway in HS despite prior Phase 3 setbacks, and Taysha’s pivotal-stage TSHA-102 gene therapy in Rett syndrome ahead of expected 1H 2027 regulatory feedback

There were six follow-on equity offerings totaling approximately $1.6B this week

• Definium Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DFTX) closed an $805M upsized public offering, including the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, to support ongoing R&D, potential commercialization preparation for DT120 ODT, if approved, and general corporate purposes. DT120 ODT is an orally disintegrating formulation of lysergide D-tartrate that recently reported positive Phase 3 results in major depressive disorder

• uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ: QURE) closed a $258.4M public offering, including the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, to fund commercialization readiness and potential launch activities for AMT-130, its investigational gene therapy for Huntington’s disease, as well as a confirmatory study, broader clinical development, business development initiatives, and general corporate purposes

• MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ: MLTX) closed a $200M upsized public offering to fund R&D, pre-commercialization and potential commercialization activities for sonelokimab, its investigational therapy for inflammatory skin and joint diseases

• Taysha Gene Therapies (NASDAQ: TSHA) closed a $200M public offering to support regulatory and manufacturing development and the potential commercial launch of TSHA-102 in Rett syndrome, if approved, along with development of additional pipeline candidates

• Absci Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSI) closed a $100M underwritten offering, with participation from Eli Lilly and other institutional investors, to advance ABS-201, its AI-designed anti-PRLR antibody program across androgenetic alopecia and endometriosis

• Helus Pharma (NASDAQ: HELP; Cboe CA: HELP) closed a $50M underwritten offering to progress HLP003 for major depressive disorder, with Phase 3 APPROACH data expected in Q4 2026, as well as HLP004 for generalized anxiety disorder, HLP005, and general corporate purposes

  
  

PIPE/RDO Markets:

There were three PIPEs / RDOs last week raising an aggregate of $117.6M

• Remix Therapeutics raised $100M in a private placement in conjunction with its reverse merger with Passage Bio, with proceeds expected to support development of Remix’s small molecule RNA-processing therapies, including REM-422, and fund the combined company into 2028

Licensing

Licensing activity was led by large AI-enabled and platform-based discovery deals, including Insilico-SK Biopharma in neuroimmune disease, Antares-Novartis in oncology, and Abbisko-Lilly across multiple targets

• Additional notable activity included Nuvectis’ ex-China rights deal for two Haisco clinical-stage assets and TrueLab-Bionyra’s immunology bispecific agreement

M&A

M&A activity was led by two large-cap strategic acquisitions, with Merck KGaA announcing its $11.3B acquisition of Bio-Techne to expand its life science tools, diagnostics, and analytical technologies capabilities, and AbbVie announcing its $10.9B acquisition of Apogee Therapeutics to strengthen its immunology pipeline

Venture Financing

VC investment focused on de-risked clinical opportunities, including late-stage ophthalmology through Ollin’s Phase 3 VEGF / Ang2 bispecific, immunology and inflammation biologics through Bionyra’s anti-TL1A and TL1A × IL-23p19 programs, and differentiated platforms across extracellular protein degradation and autoimmune T-cell engagers