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Join Glenn Hunzinger, PwC’s US Health Industries Leader, and Roel Van den Akker, PwC’s US Pharma and Life Sciences Deals Leader, as they discuss the resurgence of dealmaking across the pharmaceutical and life sciences sector. They explore the forces driving increased M&A activity, including strong balance sheets, breakthrough scientific innovation, expanding interest in larger patient populations, and growing collaboration with China’s rapidly evolving biotech ecosystem. The conversation also examines how AI is influencing partnerships and drug development, and what dealmakers should prioritize as they navigate a dynamic market environment and position for growth in the second half of 2026.
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We’ve summarized the full discussion in a short Q&A format so you can get the highlights in minutes.
What is fueling deal activity despite continued uncertainty?
Q. Glenn Hunzinger
Companies are still navigating pricing pressure, policy uncertainty, and regulatory questions. Why are dealmakers accelerating rather than slowing down?
A. Roel van den Akker
The answer comes down to a combination of strong fundamentals and confidence in innovation. Companies have healthy balance sheets, CEOs remain focused on growth, and scientific breakthroughs continue to create compelling investment opportunities.
At the same time, large pharma organizations are under pressure to replenish pipelines and position themselves for long-term growth. That is driving continued investment through acquisitions, licensing agreements, and strategic partnerships despite a complex operating environment.
Where are buyers placing their bets?
Q. Glenn Hunzinge
Where are you seeing capital flow, and what types of assets are attracting the most interest?
A. Roel van den Akker
Oncology remains one of the most attractive areas for investment, but companies are increasingly expanding beyond traditional rare disease categories.
The success of GLP-1 therapies has reinforced the potential of investing in larger patient populations, prompting interest in areas such as vaccines, central nervous system disorders, sleep-related conditions, and addiction treatment.
The common thread is a continued focus on differentiated science with the potential to address significant unmet needs and create long-term value.
How is China's role in biopharma innovation evolving?
Q. Glenn Hunzinger
China continues to be a major topic in industry conversations. What are you seeing?
A. Roel van den Akker
China has evolved from a manufacturing hub into a significant source of innovation for the global biopharma industry.
What began as licensing activity has expanded into larger development partnerships that include substantial upfront investments and co-development arrangements between Western and Chinese companies.
As innovation continues to accelerate, China is becoming an increasingly important source of future therapies and deal activity across the industry.
How is AI influencing dealmaking and partnerships?
Q. Glenn Hunzinger
AI is transforming healthcare broadly. How is it influencing investment and deal activity?
A. Roel van den Akker
AI is already shaping how companies think about research and development, particularly in clinical development and commercialization.
While AI alone has not yet become a primary driver of large-scale M&A activity, it is fueling a growing number of partnerships, alliances, and licensing arrangements. Companies are actively seeking technologies that can accelerate development timelines, improve productivity, and enhance decision-making across the value chain.
As the technology matures, its influence on investment and partnership strategies is expected to grow significantly.
What gives you confidence in the market outlook?
Q. Glenn Hunzinger
Despite ongoing uncertainty, you remain optimistic about the remainder of the year. Why?
A. Roel van den Akker
CEOs remain focused on growth, M&A continues to be a strategic priority, and innovation is creating compelling investment opportunities across the sector.
There are also encouraging signs in the broader biotech market. Investor sentiment has improved, IPO activity is beginning to recover, and recent transactions are helping replenish capital across the ecosystem.
While economic and geopolitical uncertainty remains, the overall outlook for deal activity remains positive.
What should dealmakers focus on over the next six to twelve months?
Q. Glenn Hunzinger
As organizations evaluate growth opportunities, what should leaders be paying attention to?
A. Roel van den Akker
Organizations should continue to focus on innovation, strategic partnerships, and opportunities to strengthen future pipelines.
The most successful companies will be those that remain disciplined while moving decisively when compelling science emerges. Whether through acquisitions, licensing agreements, or development partnerships, companies are increasingly looking for ways to access innovation and create long-term value.
The market continues to reward organizations that are willing to invest behind strong science and clear strategic priorities.
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Episode transcript
Find episode transcript below.
00:00:03:10 Welcome to PwC’s Next in Health. I'm Glenn Hunzinger, PwC’s, US Health Industries Leader. Today we're talking about pharmaceutical and life science deal making and one thing is pretty clear — the market has gotten a lot more active, which is interesting is this isn't happening in a stable environment.
00:00:20:06 Companies are still dealing with pricing pressure, policy uncertainty and questions about the future regulatory landscape and what that may look like. But rather than slowing down, organizations seem to be moving faster. Large pharma is under pressure to replace pipelines. Investors are chasing differentiated science.
00:00:38:05 They're always trying to follow the science and new technologies are changing how companies think about creating value. But the real question is, so what's really driving the market? What are buyers placing their bets on? What should leaders be paying attention to when they think about growth, partnership, acquisitions? Joining me today is Roel Van den Akker, PwC’s US Pharma and Life Science Deals Leader. Roel, welcome back.
ROEL VAN DEN AKKER:
00:01:01:10 Glenn, it's great to be here and look forward to our discussion.
GLENN HUNZINGER:
00:01:04:04 All right, so let's jump right in. Roel, tell me about the first half. Has it been active and what's been driving the boom?
ROEL VAN DEN AKKER:
00:01:10:05 Yeah, Glenn, I think you said it in your preamble there, very active deals market, five plus months into the year and it's great to see it's keeping us very busy and we're very excited about this. Both from a volume and a value perspective, we've seen a very active market and I think we kind of predicted this going into the year, Glenn.
00:01:29:08 We spoke before around the turn of the year and JP Morgan and we were predicting an active year. We're seeing it play out. If you look at a last 12-month basis through the first quarter, we have a deal market that both from a value and a volume perspective is close to approaching ‘22 and ‘23 levels, which were very active years. If you are extrapolating the first quarter of this year for the full year, you probably get a record year for biopharma M&A.
00:01:56:10 What I think is interesting to see is that the trend that we were seeing before towards smaller transaction is continuing. Like we see people playing into one to 10 billion or five to 15 billion range. I think through the end of May, we were counting over 20 transactions north of a billion-dollar announce. So, people definitely have their foot on the gas.
00:02:18:08 What I think is really feeding this is kind of what you send the preamble, generally optimism from a macroeconomic perspective. Strong balance sheets for biopharma to lean into and I think fantastic strides in science in various different therapeutic areas that are making people enthusiastic to lean into M&A. So it's absolutely been a very active market here for the first five and a half months and we do expect that that trend will continue here, Glenn, as we go through the rest of the year.
GLENN HUNZINGER:
00:02:48:05 No, that's great. Roel, we always spoke about how hard it is to invest and do M&A in this space, right? Binary outcomes, hard to balance sort of risk and opportunity there. And in the past, we've certainly seen a lot of discipline as far as investing and now I think to your point, as the great science comes out, people are really starting to place their bets because they're seeing that great science in front of them.
00:03:11:08 Maybe just talk a little bit about Roel, like where are they placing the bets? What type of assets are you seeing in sort of where is some of this capital being deployed?
ROEL VAN DEN AKKER:
00:03:18:10 Yeah, it's a great question Glenn. I think the areas where we've seen activity before, we continue to see activity, right? So, oncology continues to be a very attractive therapeutic area where people are leaning into new levels of innovation. What I would also say is I think what I've started to see take post, and I think others in the industry have talked about this for a long time.
00:03:40:09 Our industry has been focused on kind of rare indications, rare disease with large price points. And I think this is starting to be turned on its head a little bit where people are increasingly leaning into larger categories with bigger attempts and understanding that with average price points, there's a lot of fantastic things that companies can do there.
00:03:59:06 I think we've seen this on the back of sort of the GLP-1 wave, the including class and as that kind of started as a duopoly now perhaps with three major players in very large patient populations where people have realized that even with lower price points and favorable reimbursement dynamics, you can really drive shareholder returns if the innovation is there.
00:04:22:10 And I think we're starting to see that model being stretched in the class to different modalities or indications or starting to replicate that into larger markets. So, I've paid a lot of close attention to some scientific developments and vaccines. I think we've seen some people leaning into CNS more broadly, indications like sleep and wake disease or narcolepsy or people are just extending things out, which I think are increasingly pointing to what you were discussing, right?
00:04:52:06 Like active market and really thinking through where they can make an impact and deliver the returns. And probably, I wouldn't say away because oncology is such a large class, there's so much unmet medical need and I think even throughout ASCO a couple weeks ago, we've again seen fantastic clinical studies, but I think the model is starting to get stretched a little bit to large attempts, right?
00:05:13:02 Like sleep wake, like addiction categories and whatnot. And I think we see M&A kind of follow that. So that's something Glenn, that I'm monitoring and I think there are more innings to that playbook here in the next six and 12 months.
GLENN HUNZINGER:
00:05:25:05 Yeah, I mean, it's pretty incredible to see, everyone says follow the science, but where the science has taken us around new cures, new therapies, things that we thought were maybe unattainable years ago, it's great to see that kind of breakthrough. So Roel, as we think about innovation and certainly the types of deals can't be a conversation today without talking about China and innovation in China.
00:05:48:02 Maybe talk a little about what you've seen sort of in the first half. How has that compared to previous and kind of where you see that going?
ROEL VAN DEN AKKER:
00:05:56:01 Yeah, I mean, you said it rightfully so. China is a topic on all dealmakers’ minds, right? And we've talked about it on prior podcast. The market has clearly evolved from a low-cost manufacturing destination to an innovation hub that nobody in our industry can ignore. And executives and industry participants have spoken about this over the recent weeks and quarters.
00:06:17:03 I think we're definitely in a new chapter there in that journey. I think Western MNCs have started to in-license molecules over the last 18 months or so because we've been talking about this for a while. What I think we're starting to see now is even bigger development deals being signed between Western biopharmas and Chinese-based pharma companies,
00:06:37:02 that significant upfronts and it's effectively the old school cocoa deals where you're co-developing and even co-commercializing certain compounds and certain indications. So, the innovation base in China is exceptionally fast and that's something that's here to stay in the industry and US MNCs are increasingly looking there for fantastic new science.
00:07:00:10 I think the base of innovation, the base of the regulator there, particularly in the preclinical and early clinical development stages is a fair bit faster than it currently is in the United States. And that's something that the industry over here needs to look to address. And I think there are conversations on the hill and in our ecosystem broadly to kind of address that.
00:07:19:05 But from an M&A perspective, you're seeing companies here in the United States and also Western Europe leaning into those deals. So, I think the strength is here to stay. China will increasingly be a source of innovation for the globe, and I do think as participants in this ecosystem, in this industry, we're all passionate about bringing innovation to US-based patients.
00:07:43:10 We should all welcome this trend and see what it can bring from a therapy perspective to patients. So, there's more to come, but it's absolutely a topic that is here to stay Glenn, from my perspective and should be on every deal maker's mind.
GLENN HUNZINGER:
00:07:54:05 Yeah, iron sharpens iron and there's no doubt it'll just continue to enhance the pace of innovation and ultimately better outcomes for patients. So, Roel, you kind of hit a little bit on the innovation and the technology and AI side. Can't be a conversation unless we talk about AI for a bit. So obviously, it affects all aspects of sort of the value chain for pharma from a development side to otherwise, but talk about from a deals framework, how are people deploying capital in AI around the deals side, around partnerships, and how is that driving some of that M&A and value-creation mindset?
ROEL VAN DEN AKKER:
00:08:30:01 Yeah. Great question. I mean, listen, it will have a profound impact to our industry and I think it already is shaping our industry. Two main areas where I think I see most of the value case, particularly in commercial and then I think most importantly in R&D, right? What it can do to clinical development.
00:08:46:04 I think as it relates to M&A, Glenn, deals that are driven solely by AI so far are few and far between, right? There are one or two or three that I can think of, but I don't think AI is a primary driver of M&A and biopharma. What I do think is companies that are living on the edges of this debate are increasingly mesmerized by the potential that it can have and are scouting sort of our ecosystem
00:09:13:06 where progress is being made and are aggressively licensing technologies and creating partnerships with AI-driven companies to kind of really speed up clinical development. So, I do think the vast majority of alliance and licensing activity in our sector is drug development, but increasingly we're seeing AI-licensing activity with companies in the ecosystem that's driven to that end taking shape as well.
00:09:38:06 So like that is only going to ramp up. I do think we're going to have to move to impact here shortly, but I do think we're pretty close to getting there.
GLENN HUNZINGER:
00:09:46:10 Yeah, no, that's great. I think there's no doubt it's helping the competitive landscape and helping evaluate, move with pace and speed on transactions, which is obviously critical here to creating value. So Roel, as we transition from what we're seeing in the market where people are focusing, how they're deploying capital and leveraging technology
00:10:05:09 to really expedite and create value, what's your view on, what should deal makers be doing when you're advising CEOs and head to Strategy and Corporate Development, what are the conversations you're having and kind of where are you focused over the next six months?
ROEL VAN DEN AKKER:
00:10:21:01 Yeah, I mean, listen, it's a great question. I'm very optimistic for continuing momentum over the next six months. Couple reasons, right? I think our CEO survey is sort of generally guided that CEOs in our sector are still fairly optimistic about the general state of play. I mean, it's a complex operating environment we're in geopolitically economically still.
00:10:39:08 But despite that, I think CEOs are executing and M&A continues to feature prominently on the agenda. We've talked extensively about the LOE wall, people are leaning into it, the promise of AI is strong and there's fantastic innovation in China. We've talked about that. I'm also sort of quite optimistic.
00:10:57:01 I do think, and I get this question quite a bit, Glenn, is IPO markets for biotech and sort of the general sentiment in the industry. I know our sector has trailed the broader S and P for a long time. I think that gap is sort of closing over the first six months. I think the sentiment in biotech is a lot better than it was 12 months ago.
00:11:15:04 I think we've seen some positive signs in the biotech IPO markets over the last couple of weeks with some pretty promising IPOs, which raised significant amounts of capital, which then create trickle-down economics, if you will, throughout our ecosystem back into the crossover rounds, back into the venture rounds. We've seen some of the investors in our space make some good exits with some of the 2025 M&A that was announced with some of the larger deals, which I think is replenishing capital throughout the ecosystem.
00:11:44:05 What I think is important to note for industry that, and again, I always pay attention to this, the 10-year risk-free rate is kind of in the high fours at the moment, which is not ideal, right? For a risk-taking environment and a long duration industry that biotech is. But despite all of that, I do think that the general sentiment is quite optimistic,
00:12:02:08 which is kind of keenly on CEOs’ and deal makers’ minds and I think sets us up quite nicely for continued activity throughout the rest of the year.
GLENN HUNZINGER:
00:12:12:14 Yeah, I think you captured it well, the word sentiment, it's clear that science is progressing, capital is being deployed. Transactions have always been a fabric of the industry, whether it's wholesale acquisitions or as you've mentioned, licensing, co-promotion agreements, etcetera. But it's clear that the activities here, the market is moving at pace and people are kind of pushing themselves day in, day out, to sort of that next level sort of edge of where we are.
00:12:37:09 Listen, it's going to be exciting to see how it plays out for the second year. Roel, thanks for setting the scene of optimism grounded in great fundamentals and good insights that you have here. So, thanks for your time, Roel. I'm sure it's a great listening for our audience and appreciate you spending time.
ROEL VAN DEN AKKER:
00:12:54:04 Always a pleasure to be on, Glenn, thank you for having me.
GLENN HUNZINGER:
00:12:56:03 To learn more, check out our pharma and life sciences deals, midyear 2026 Outlook report now available linked in the show notes. And thank you all for tuning into PwC’s Next in Health. For more on these topics and other insights across health industries, please subscribe to our podcast at pwc.com/us/next in Health podcast. Until next time, this has been Next in health.
FEMALE VOICEOVER:
00:13:29:05 This podcast is brought to you by PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the US member firm or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details. This podcast is for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.
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