Lawyers
Global M&A Co-Head Krishna Veeraraghavan discussed the increasingly bullish outlook for life sciences dealmaking in 2026 on the March 11 episode of Bloomberg TV’s “Bloomberg Deals.” While 2025 saw a massive 50% increase in life sciences transactions, this year is set to be even busier as many large pharmaceutical companies reach the so-called patent cliff, Krishna says. With several key patents set to expire beginning in 2026, certain large companies are “going to lose [patent] exclusivity and they need to fill that pipeline, so there’s a strategic need to do these deals,” he explains. Investors also want to see these large pharma companies use their vast capital to pursue growth through the acquisition of smaller, highly specialized companies to replace that lost revenue.
“The way the ecosystem is built now, you have these smaller, innovative companies who are focused on smaller therapeutic areas, but who are going deep there, so they’re perfect counterparties in transactions,” Krishna notes. “The pace of innovation in therapeutic areas has never been more exciting than right now.”
Another factor that bodes well for the industry is the favorable regulatory environment, Krishna adds.
“We’re in an environment right now where there is an emphasis on getting products in the hands of companies that can take them further, develop them and really get to the patients,” he says. “That’s a very positive environment for transactional matters” that has provided more certainty to parties at the outset of transactions and resulted in increasingly successful deals.
» watch the video
Related Insights
