What’s Driving Biopharma Deal Strategy in 2026?

In the first segment of a two-part interview with BioPharm International®, Sebastian Andersen, CEO and founder of ClarityNorth Partners, discusses the first-half biopharma deal market, including the size of transactions, oncology’s position at the top of therapeutic-area rankings, and what mid-cap companies can learn from Lilly’s dealmaking strategy.

Andersen says the absence of a $30 billion-plus deal does not necessarily indicate that boards are hesitant to pursue large transactions. Instead, he sees greater precision in capital deployment, with buyers more willing to spend when an asset addresses a clear pipeline or portfolio need without creating excessive integration and execution risk.

What can biopharma companies learn from Lilly’s dealmaking strategy?

While mid-cap companies cannot replicate Lilly’s scale, Andersen says they can apply the principles behind its approach by being selective about what they acquire and using licensing, partnerships, milestone-based structures, and other transaction approaches to access assets while managing risk.

“The principle is definitely more transferable than the scale itself,” Andersen says.

Andersen also cautions against reading too much into six months of deal data. While oncology represented 41% of first-half deal value, he says the shift does not necessarily signal a fundamental retreat from cardiometabolic disease, which remains strategically important to pharmaceutical pipelines.

“Structure really is risk management at the end of the day,” Andersen says.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where Andersen discusses additional factors shaping biopharma dealmaking and what companies should be watching in the second half of 2026.