Week of June 5, 2026

The Week at a Glance:

• Investors Focus on Interest Rates Again: With stronger-than-expected labor market data and rising inflation, equities sold off sharply as investors priced in the potential for a rate hike

• Servier Goes on Offense: Servier announces its second >$1B deal of 2026, with its acquisition of Edgewise Therapeutics’ muscular dystrophy business for up to $2.7B, supporting its ambition within rare neurology

• Anti-Aging Makes a Return: NewLimit, a biotech developing epigenetic reprogramming therapies, raised a $435M Series C led by Founders Fund to advance its first clinical-stage program targeting liver cell rejuvenation 

   

Markets Overview

The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow, were all down 2.6%, 4.7%, and 0.3%, respectively, over the last week

• Strong labor market data, coupled with persistent inflation risk, raised investor concerns that the Fed could hike interest rates further, driving equities sharply lower over the week

The NYSE Pharma Index was up 1.5%, while the NBI was down 2.5%

Notable changes in share price:

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ: LEGN): Shares rose 21.2% after the Company reported early in vivo CAR-T data from its lymphoma program, with all six patients treated at the higher dose level responding and five showing no evidence of lymphoma lesions, underscoring continued investor interest in the mechanism as focus shifts away from ex vivo CAR-T approaches challenged by manufacturing and scalability constraints

Sources: Pitchbook, Biomedtracker, and CapIQ

Equity Markets

IPO

IPO investors continue to place a premium on differentiated clinical innovation rather than near-term commercial execution, a reversal from the post-2021 biotech downturn

IPOs priced in 2025 and 2026 have generated a median and average return of 0.0% and 15.3% YTD, respectively

After-Market Performance by Stage

• Clinical-stage after-market performance (N=18): 32.9% (average), 17.4% (median)

• Commercial-stage after-market performance (N=24): 1.1% (average), (5.6%) (median)

After-Market Performance by Sector

• Biopharma (N=18): 32.9% (average), 17.4% (median)

• MedTech (N=23): (5.4%) (average), (15.9%) (median)
  

Follow On

Follow-on activity was led by Jade Biosciences and Mineralys Therapeutics, as biopharma companies continued to successfully access the public markets to fund clinical-stage development and advance key pipeline programs

There were four follow-on equity offerings totaling $416.6M this week, including:

• Nyxoah SA (NASDAQ: NYXH) announced a $95.0M underwritten public offering to support continued development and commercialization of its Genio system, a neurostimulation platform designed to treat obstructive sleep apnea

• Jade Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: JBIO) announced a $150.0M follow-on offering to support development of its autoimmune disease pipeline, including JADE101, its lead anti-APRIL antibody program being developed for IgA nephropathy, as well as earlier-stage antibody programs targeting immune-mediated diseases

• Mineralys Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLYS) announced a $150.0M follow-on offering to advance lorundrostat, its orally administered aldosterone synthase inhibitor being developed for hypertension and related cardiometabolic and renal conditions, including chronic kidney disease and obstructive sleep apnea

• NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: NRXP) announced a $21.6M follow-on offering to support development of its CNS-focused therapeutic pipeline, including NRX-100, preservative-free intravenous ketamine, and NRX-101, an oral therapy being developed for suicidal depression and related neuropsychiatric conditions

PIPE/RDO Markets:

PIPE/RDO activity supported a reverse merger agreement between Avenzo and Rallybio, following Rallybio’s prior attempt to merge with Candid Therapeutics before Candid announced its $2.2B acquisition by UCB

There were four PIPEs / RDOs last week raising an aggregate of $243.1M

• Avenzo Therapeutics announced a $215M concurrent private placement in connection with its merger with Rallybio (NASDAQ: RLYB) to support development of its four clinical-stage oncology programs, including selective CDK inhibitors and bispecific ADCs for solid tumors

Licensing

Licensing activity concentrated around RNA-based discovery platforms and commercialization agreements

• Alnylam’s up to $2.0B strategic collaboration with Inceptive and Lilly’s up to $1.9B collaboration with Ascidian highlight continued strategic interest in RNAi, RNA editing, and AI-enabled discovery platforms, particularly for genetically defined and kidney disease targets

• Commercialization-focused activity was led by regional and market-specific rights agreements, including Tolmar’s US collaboration for Alpha DaRT, ROHTO’s Japan license for Luminopia, Travere’s ex-China rights to civorebrutinib, and Lilly’s ex-Korea license for sonefpeglutide, highlighting continued demand for partners with specialized development and launch capabilities

M & A

M&A activity this week was driven by Servier’s up to $2.65B acquisition of Edgewise’s muscular dystrophy business, which follows Servier’s acquisition of Day One for $2.5B

Venture Financing

The largest venture round last week focused on aging biology, underscoring continued investor appetite for ambitious platform technologies that draw parallels to recent financing trends around AI-driven biotech

• NewLimit’s $435M Series C led the week, supporting advancement of its epigenetic reprogramming platform toward first-in-human studies, while Contraline’s $92.5M Series B highlighted continued investor interest in late-stage reproductive health innovation

• Venture financing also supported ADCs, male contraceptives, AI-enabled technologies, and neurovascular MedTech, highlighting broad investor interest as the healthcare fundraising environment remains healthy