| Posted by Ryan A. Murr; Karen A. Spindler; Carson Zheng; Topic(s): License Agreements; Trends and Insights
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 how biotechs and large pharmaceutical companies approach partnerships heading into 2026.
| Posted by Ryan A. Murr; Branden C. Berns; Melanie E. Neary; Topic(s): FDA; Government Regulation; License Agreements; Trends and Insights
Introduction
On May 12, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients”. This order aims to address the perceived imbalance where the United States funds a significant portion of global pharmaceutical profits and pays high prices, while drug manufacturers offer deep discounts to access foreign markets, subsidizing those lower prices through higher prices in the United States. The stated purpose of the Executive Order is to ensure that Americans are not forced to pay almost three times more for the same medicines and have access to the most-favored-nation (MFN) price.