J.P. Morgan event in focus amid biotech M&A, obesity frenzy

The latest momentum in biotech deal-making, the rising curiosity in weight-loss medicine, and the recognition of synthetic intelligence have all added significance to this yr’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Convention, set to kick off on Monday in San Francisco, CA.

The four-day occasion, one of many premier funding conferences on the healthcare calendar, is predicted to draw greater than 80,000 attendees, together with representatives from main drugmakers, rising firms, and huge monetary corporations.

“Issues are wanting up for the primary time in a very long time,” healthcare investor and CEO of Loncar Investments, Brad Loncar, advised Bloomberg.

In response to information from the London Inventory Change Group, pharma and biotech deal-making bucked a decline in international M&A exercise in 2023, rising 38% and 45% in worth from the prior yr, respectively, regardless of a slight drop in amount.

“We have had an uptick of M&A just lately, we’re seeing shares rebound with the market restoration and rates of interest reducing,” Mike Gaito, JPMorgan’s international head of healthcare funding banking, advised Reuters. Gaito will interview JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon on the occasion’s opening day.

A brand new class of weight-loss medicine referred to as GLP-1 receptor agonists, marketed by Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), has taken the pharmaceutical business by storm, with main drugmakers becoming a member of the fray via in-house improvement and deal-making.

Smaller biotech firms akin to Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) and Rhythm Prescribed drugs (RYTM) with weight reduction medicine of their pipeline sharply outperformed the broader market in 2023, whereas Eli Lilly (LLY) and Novo (OTCPK:NONOF) turned the world’s Most worthy drugmakers.

A brand new class of most cancers therapeutics referred to as antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) additionally made deal-making headlines just lately.

In December, Pfizer (PFE) closed its $42B acquisition of ADC drugmaker Seagen (SGEN), and in October, Merck (NYSE:MRK) inked a $22B deal to acquire international rights for 3 ADCs from Japanese pharma Daiichi Sankyo (OTCPK:DSNKY) (OTCPK:DSKYF). AbbVie’s (NYSE:ABBV) ~$10B acquisition of ADC maker ImmunoGen (IMGN) is predicted to shut in mid-2024.

Commenting on healthcare know-how and distribution, J.P. Morgan analysts led by Anne Samuel stated AI may also be a key theme at this yr’s occasion.

Even AI-driven biotechs, together with Schrodinger (SDGR), Recursion Pharma (RXRX), and Absci (ABSI), have additionally made report positive factors in 2023 amid investments from the likes of Nvidia (NVDA).

In response to Morgan Stanley, budgetary allocation to AI and machine studying is predicted to hit ~11% within the healthcare sector this yr, up from ~6% in 2022.

Main drugmakers scheduled for shows on the JPM occasion embody Amgen(AMGN), BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN), Eli Lilly (LLY), Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), AbbVie (ABBV), Teva (TEVA), Bristol Myers (NYSE:BMY), Viatris (VTRS), Zoetis (ZTS), Organon (OGN), Moderna (MRNA), Elanco (ELAN), Vertex Pharma (VRTX), Regeneron (REGN), Baxter Worldwide (BAX) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Notable well being gear makers to current embody Dexcom (DXCM), Zimmer Biomet (ZBH), GE HealthCare (GEHC) and Baxter Worldwide (BAX)

Different healthcare firms scheduled for shows embody Agilent (A), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Exelixis (EXEL), LabCorp (LH), Walgreens (WBA), Centene (CNC), CVS Well being (CVS), Cigna (CI) and Molina (MOLN)