Biotech Briefings

Editor

Karen A. Spindler

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…

One and Done: FDA’s New Single-Trial Default and What It Means for Drug Developers, Investors, and Counsel

On February 18, 2026, FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and Vinay Prasad, then-Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, published a landmark policy announcement in the New England Journal of Medicine that a single adequate and well-controlled pivotal trial — supplemented by confirmatory evidence — is now the…

MFN Drug Pricing in 2026: Voluntary Deals Are Giving Way to Mandatory Rules — Five Things Life Sciences Companies Need to Know

What began as a series of demand letters in July 2025 has evolved into something significantly more consequential. By February 2026, sixteen of the seventeen largest pharmaceutical manufacturers have signed Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) pricing agreements with the Trump administration, which commit them to Medicaid price parity, MFN pricing on new product launches, and participation in TrumpRx.gov…

2026 Life Sciences Industry Outlook: Collaborations and Licensing

Welcome to Part 4 of our 2026 Life Sciences Industry Outlook series. Today, we’re looking at life sciences collaborations and licensing activity in 2025 and what it may signal for 2026. 2025 life sciences licensing activity remained resilient and increasingly sophisticated, with stable deal volume, heightened structural customization, and growing geopolitical and technology-driven considerations shaping…