Biotech Briefings

Editor

Branden C. Berns

Partner

MFN Goes Mid-Market: Nine More Drugmakers Sign Medicaid Pricing Deals as the September 29 Tariff Deadline Approaches

On August 31, 2026, the White House announced most-favored-nation (“MFN”) pricing agreements with nine additional pharmaceutical manufacturers: Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and UCB. The agreements bring the total number of manufacturers with MFN deals to 26, which the White House says covers 89 percent of the branded drug market.

How ‘Most Favored Nation’ Regime Affects Biopharma Deals

This article describes the current state-of-play with MFN and key deal drafting considerations. Life sciences dealmaking is running at a record pace — straight into a pricing regime that is still being written. According to Gibson Dunn’s July biopharma M&A survey, the first half of 2026 saw 13 announced acquisitions of public biopharma targets ranging…

The SEC Is Listening: Earnings Call Pressure Points for Life Sciences Companies

Corp Fin leadership has signaled that staff time may be better spent listening to earnings calls than reviewing routine shelf filings, and a recent comment letter exchange shows why. For life sciences companies, whose calls routinely cover program-level spend, clinical data, and cash runway, inconsistencies between the call and the filings are a potential source of staff comments.

Biopharma M&A: Mid-Cap Public-Target Market Survey (First-Half 2026)

In the first six months of 2026, acquirers announced 13 qualifying acquisitions of public biopharma targets worth $66.6 billion in upfront consideration. This survey examines that period and the surge within it: what is driving it, how the deals are structured, and what it means for the parties negotiating the next one. Focusing on the…

Contingent Value Rights: A Drafting Guide for Biopharma M&A

Contingent value rights have become a defining feature of biopharma M&A, appearing in under 10% of mid-cap public-target deals before 2019 but a quarter to a third of them in every year since 2023. They let a buyer pay less cash at signing while preserving upside for selling stockholders on a binary clinical, regulatory, or…