Twine Saver, Q3 2026: life science deals and public markets

Intertwine Bio helps scientific founders take new technologies to market, from forming the company to raising money and launching. How public companies buy, license and finance science sets the terms for that work. This review covers July 1 to September 30, 2026, from the companies' own announcements and SEC filings.

The acquisitions

• Vertex and Crinetics. On July 6, Vertex agreed to acquire Crinetics for $85.00 a share in cash, an equity value of about $10.0 billion, or about $8.8 billion net of cash acquired. Vertex pointed to a commercial and Phase 3 endocrinology portfolio with a peak sales opportunity of about $5 billion. The deal closed on September 1.
• Curium and Lantheus. On August 3, Curium agreed to acquire Lantheus for $102.50 a share in cash plus contingent value rights of up to $12.00 a share, up to about $8.0 billion in total. The rights are tied to prostate diagnostics, neurology and an existing product through 2030, and the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.
• Telix and ITM. On September 21, Telix agreed to merge with ITM Isotope Technologies Munich for US$1.65 billion upfront, US$1.25 billion of it in Telix shares, with up to US$700 million in milestones. Together with Curium and Lantheus, it made two multi-billion radiopharmaceutical deals in one quarter.
• Jazz and Actio. Jazz agreed on August 10 to acquire Actio Biosciences for $820 million upfront plus up to $500 million in milestones, for a program in a rare form of epilepsy. Actio's other programs were spun into a new company, and the deal closed on September 15.
• BioMarin and Alesta. BioMarin agreed on August 18 to acquire Alesta Therapeutics for $275 million upfront plus up to $215 million in milestones, with all other assets and all employees spun out before closing.
• Zymeworks and Theravance. Zymeworks completed its acquisition of Theravance Biopharma on September 23 for $17.00 a share in cash plus a contingent value right tied to one product.
• Tarsus and Alkeus. Tarsus agreed to acquire the private company Alkeus Pharmaceuticals, with a Phase 3 program in an inherited retinal disease, and announced a $125 million private placement at the same time.

Licensing

Hanmi Pharm granted Genentech an exclusive worldwide licence, outside South Korea, to an obesity candidate designed to preserve lean muscle: $190 million upfront and a total potential value of about $2.3 billion, plus royalties. Obesity remained the field where large companies paid most for early assets.

Manufacturing and medtech

• PolyPeptide. Samsung Biologics made an all-cash offer of CHF 44.31 a share for the peptide manufacturer, a 40 percent premium, citing demand for peptides including GLP-1 medicines.
• Lifecore Biomedical. The contract manufacturer agreed to be taken private by Webster Equity Partners at $6.28 a share, a 49.5 percent premium, plus contingent value rights of up to $160 million.
• Arsenal Medical. Terumo Neuro agreed to acquire the medical device company.

Our read: the companies that make and supply the industry are consolidating as fast as the drug developers are. Manufacturing capacity for GLP-1 medicines is now a reason to buy a company in its own right.

The IPO window

According to Renaissance Capital, 9 of the quarter's 30 U.S. IPOs were biotech, raising $2.4 billion with an average return of 16.6 percent, the strongest of any sector. Among them:

• Scribe Therapeutics: priced at $15.00 for $128.7 million, with Sanofi buying in a concurrent private placement.
• Apnimed: upsized, priced at $16.00 for about $192 million.
• Electra Therapeutics: upsized, priced at $15.00 for about $350 million.
• ADARx Pharmaceuticals: priced at $17.00 for $446 million, with AbbVie arranging to buy up to $100 million privately.

Alongside the IPOs, Leerink counted 17 biotech reverse mergers completed or planned in the quarter, against one in the second, as reported by BioSpace.

What it means

Our read, not advice:

• Contingent value rights are standard. Six of the quarter's notable deals used contingent value rights or milestones to bridge price. Founders and boards should model them as seriously as the cash.
• Clean separability is an asset. Buyers increasingly took one program and left the rest, so how a company holds its IP and contracts by program matters well before a sale.
• Strategic investors at IPO. A pharmaceutical investor in the offering is becoming part of how biotech IPOs get done. Partnerships formed earlier can become anchors later.

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Sources are linked above: company announcements and SEC filings and, where noted, Renaissance Capital and BioSpace. This report is a general summary of trends, prepared by Intertwine Partners solely from publicly available information, and offered for general interest. It is not investment, legal, tax or regulatory advice, not a recommendation about any security, and not an offer or solicitation. The mention of any company does not imply endorsement or any relationship. See the full terms in our Legal Notices, including our independence and conflicts of interest statement. Company and product names are the property of their owners.