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ALETH / LIFESCI-BRIEF / 2026-08-07 / ASTRAZENECA-BMS DEAL TALKS DENIED

AstraZeneca-BMS deal talks denied

Also this week: Curium Lantheus $8bn deal, Supernus Indivior $7.5bn deal, Four US biotech IPOs and Moderna's (controversial) mRNA flu shot clears the FDA.

The Aleth Briefs trace each story to its original source and show how the week unfolded.

The week in five lines:

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Story of the week

The FT reported that AstraZeneca and BMS had held talks about a $400bn merger which if true would create the world’s fourth-largest drugmaker by value

The weekend report triggered sharp market reactions on Monday, despite neither company issuing official comment. AZ shares fell as much as 9% in early trading, its worst move since 2020, while BMS gained 6% in US pre-market trading.

In a Reuters article on Wednesday, an insider dismissed the speculation entirely. “There is no deal between AstraZeneca and BMS. There never was a deal to be done, and there are no discussions between the companies,” the source stated.

Weekend catch-up

Monday 3 August

Curium agreed to buy Lantheus in a deal worth up to $8bn.

Curium, which is PE backed, will pay $102.50/share in cash plus contingent value rights (CVRs) worth up to $12.00/share on commercial milestones to 2030. The CVRs split $6.00 to prostate cancer diagnostics, $3.00 neurology and $1.00 the DEFINITY imaging agent. The combination would put diagnostic and therapeutic radioligand assets under one owner across more than 70 countries. Expects to close H1 2027.

Curium Announces Definitive Agreement to Merge with Lantheus · Curium

Supernus and Indivior agreed an all-stock merger to create a $7.5bn in value and $2.2bn in revenue central nervous system drugmaker.

Each Supernus share converts into 1.54 Indivior shares, leaving Indivior holders with about 56.5% and Supernus holders 43.5%. Indivior shareholders also take a $1bn special cash dividend before closing, funded partly by a $650m Citibank term loan. The combined company keeps the Supernus name and Jack Khattar as CEO. It targets $888m of adjusted EBITDA including $125m cost synergies. Expects to close Q4 2026.

KKR is taking US device maker Integer private at an enterprise value of $5.7bn.

Integer shareholders get $127.00/share in cash, 51.8% above the 29 April close, the day before it announced a strategic review, and 28.8% above the 30-day volume-weighted price to 31 July. There is no financing condition. Expects to close end 2026

Integer to Be Acquired by KKR in Transaction Valued at $5.7 Billion · Integer Holdings

BioNTech named Sobi chief executive Guido Oelkers as its next chief executive.

Oelkers takes office by 1 February 2027 and succeeds co-founder Ugur Sahin, who leaves with CMO Ozlem Tureci to run a new next-gen mRNA company. Oelkers more than quadrupled revenue at Sobi over 2017 to 2026. He will prioritise BioNTech’s evolution into a global biopharma firm with multiple approved products by 2030.

The Supreme Court of California ruled that drugmakers owe no duty to bring a safer alternative to market sooner, ending class action litigation against Gilead.

Justice Groban wrote manufacturers “do not owe a duty of care to users of a nondefective drug when making decisions about whether and when to commercialize an allegedly safer alternative.” The plaintiffs took Viread and argued Gilead had held back Vemlidy to protect revenue. It reverses and earlier Court of Appeal decision.

Tuesday 4 August

Pfizer added $2.5bn to its cost-cutting programme.

The new reductions run from 2027 to 2029 and take targeted net savings to $9.7bn through 2029. Q2 revenue was $15.0bn, up 1%, with adjusted earnings of $0.77 a share. Pfizer lifted its 2026 revenue guidance by $500m to $60.5-$62.5bn.

Pfizer Reports Q2 Results And Raises Midpoint of 2026 Revenue Guidance · Pfizer

Novo Nordisk raised its 2026 guidance driven by GLP-1 volumes.

Adjusted sales grew 7% at CER to DKK 78.5bn and adjusted operating profit 11% to DKK 33.4bn. Full-year adjusted sales and operating profit growth is now guided at 0% to -6%, against -4% to -12% before. The Wegovy pill has passed 5m prescriptions since launch and was running above 265,000 a week in mid-July.

Merck’s anti-TL1A antibody tulisokibart met its endpoints in hidradenitis suppurativa and missed in a rare lung disease.

The systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease programme is discontinued, and the full hidradenitis results go to a medical meeting. Merck paid $10.8bn for Prometheus Biosciences to acquire the antibody. Q2 sales were $16.6bn, up 5%, with $8.4bn from Keytruda and a $2.31/share charge tied to the Terns Pharma purchase.

Q2 2026 Financial Results; Key Regulatory & Clinical Milestones · Merck & Co

Pathos AI licensed Alphamab Oncology’s TROP2/HER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate in a deal worth up to $2.2bn.

Pathos pays $125m upfront for rights outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, with up to $2.09bn in milestones and tiered royalties. JSKN016 is already in phase 3 in triple-negative breast cancer in China. Pathos also named AZD4241, an oestrogen-receptor PROTAC licensed from AstraZeneca, in its pipeline.

P&G agreed to buy US supplements maker Thorne from L Catterton for $3.8bn.

L Catterton bought into the vitamins, minerals and supplements firm in October 2023.

Sale of Thorne to The Procter & Gamble Company for $3.8 Billion · L Catterton

Wednesday 5 August

Takeda won US approval for the first orexin agonist for narcolepsy.

The FDA cleared Orzeyful, an oral orexin receptor 2 agonist, for narcolepsy type 1 in adults. It is the first disease modifying medicine directed at orexin deficiency and improved excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy and quality of life in phase 3 trials.

Eli Lilly raised guidance as tirzepatide neared two-thirds of revenue.

Q2 revenue was $23.0bn, up 48%: Mounjaro (tirzepatide for type 2 diabetes) took $9.9bn, up 91%, and Zepbound (for weight loss) $4.9bn, up 46%. The newly launched oral GLP-1 Foundayo (orforglipron) took $98m. Lilly raised 2026 revenue guidance +3% to $85-$87bn from $82-$85bn and narrowed EPS guidance to $35.50-$36.50.

Attovia Therapeutics priced an upsized $289m Nasdaq IPO.

The company sold 17m shares at $17.00 and began trading as ATTO. Proceeds fund three immunology candidates, led by the anti-IL-31 antibody ATTO-1310 in chronic itch, which is positioned against Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent (dupilumab).

PacBio replaced its chief executive, cut its revenue guidance and restructured.

COO Mark Van Oene became president and CEO with immediate effect, succeeding Christian Henry after six years; Henry stays on the board and will advise to end 2026. 2026 revenue guidance fell $10m (6%) to $155-$165m. Q2 revenue was $39.0m vs $39.8m, the net loss widened to $44.7m, and cash fell to $236.9m from $314.7m.

GRAIL expects an FDA advisory committee this autumn on Galleri, its multi-cancer early detection (MCED) blood test.

The premarket approval application rests on 25,000 PATHFINDER 2 participants with a year of follow-up and on the first screening round of the 140,000-participant NHS-Galleri trial in England. Q2 revenue rose 26% to $44.7m and Galleri volume 35% to >61,000 tests, against a net loss of $110.2m and cash of $861.6m. GRAIL also closed a $110m equity financing with Samsung to sell Galleri in South Korea.

LifeMine raised a $188m series E to take transplant drug into later trials.

A $75m series D from Q4 2025 and an oversubscribed $188m series E led by Milky Way Investments, with Bezos Expeditions, Gates Frontier, RA Capital, GV and ARCH Venture Partners, fund LIFE-001. The molecule came out of mining fungal genomes, is given as a long-acting injection and does not enter the brain.

Thursday 6 August

Stanford and Arc Institute scientists designed 16 viable bacteriophages with AI.

Writing in Science, the team used the Evo genome language model to generate whole bacteriophage genomes letter by letter, synthesised hundreds of candidates and found 16 that were viable. All 16 infect E. coli and pose no threat to humans. A cocktail of them overcame bacteria that had resisted a natural phage. The research highlights the need for biosecurity governance guardrails to be properly established.

FDA approved Replimune’s Tudriqev for advanced melanoma at the 3rd attempt.

The accelerated approval covers Tudriqev with Opdivo in unresectable advanced cutaneous melanoma that has progressed on an anti-PD-1 regimen. About a quarter of evaluable patients in the single-arm trial responded, for a median of just over 14 months. Continued approval depends on the confirmatory phase 3 IGNYTE-3 trial.

Moderna won US approval for the first mRNA flu vaccine.

mFLUSIVA (mRNA-1010) is cleared for adults 50 and over: a standard approval for those 50-64 based on a 40,805-participant phase 3 in 11 countries, and accelerated approval for those 65 and over based on immunogenicity data from 2,992 US adults, with a confirmatory study required. This reverses a refusal to file the agency issued on the same application earlier this year. Supply is expected for the 2026-27 season.

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy Alkeus Pharmaceuticals for $450m up front, taking it into inherited retinal disease.

Tarsus pays $270m in cash and $180m in stock, with up to $350m on regulatory approval and first commercial sale plus tiered royalties. Alkeus’s gildeuretinol is in the 230-patient phase 3 NORTHSTAR trial in Stargardt disease, which affects >36,000 Americans and has no approved treatment; topline data are due in H2 2029.

Tarsus to Acquire Alkeus and Advance Eye Care Leadership · Tarsus Pharmaceuticals

Braveheart Bio priced an upsized $382.5m IPO above its range.

The company sold 21.25m shares at $18.00, against a marketed $15 to $17, and began trading as BRVE. Proceeds fund phase 3 work on a cardiac myosin inhibitor licensed from Jiangsu Hengrui for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, against BMS’s Camzyos.

Intellia linked the liver enzyme spikes in its CRISPR trials to a single HLA allele.

A genomic analysis of >600 patient samples across the nex-z programme found the highest transaminase elevations in carriers of one HLA allele. Intellia is discussing the finding with regulators and will screen patients entering its phase 3 trials.

The FDA set out how its proposed expedited investigational new drug (IND) pilot would work.

Qualified research institutions, CROs and other third parties would help sponsors prepare and pre-review IND material on a rolling basis, shortening the time from picking a molecule to a first-in-human trial. The FDA would keep full authority over regulatory decisions, including the power to place a trial on clinical hold.

Friday 7 August

Latigo and BlossomHill priced IPOs to close four biotech IPOs this week.

Latigo Biotherapeutics sold 19.2m shares at $18.00 for $345.6m, funding LTG-001, an oral NaV1.8 painkiller positioned against Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx.

BlossomHill Therapeutics sold 9.375m shares at $16.00 for $150m, funding: BH-30643 in EGFR-mutant lung cancer, a would-be rival to AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso; and BH-30236 in acute myeloid leukaemia and higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome.

Both begin trading today, taking the week’s US biotech IPOs to four and $1.2bn raised.

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