Week of October 3, 2025

The Week at a Glance:

• Equities Rose Despite the Government Shutdown: Major indices were up an average of 1.2% in spite of the government shutdown and the delay in releasing September jobs report

• The Art of the Pfizer Deal: Pfizer struck a deal with the Trump administration to cut Medicaid US drug prices — offering major consumer discounts and “most-favored-nation” pricing in exchange for tariff waivers and expanded US manufacturing investments

• Biopharma Is So Back (Again?): Both the NBI and NYSE Pharma Index significantly outperformed the broader market last week as the Pfizer-Trump deal sparked a rally as investors perceived it as a sign of more favorable drug-pricing deals for biopharma companies to come

• The Multispecific Moment Sees a Multi-Billion Dollar Deal: Genmab announced an $8B all-cash acquisition of Merus, gaining full ownership of the biotech’s lead asset petosemtamab, a Phase 3 bispecific antibody targeting EGFR and LGR5 for head and neck cancers, to strengthen its oncology pipeline and expand its wholly owned portfolio

  • Read more about the market analysis and investment trends in multispecific antibodies in DNB//Back Bay’s recent white paper here

Markets Overview

• The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and the Dow rose 1.1%, 1.3%, and 1.1%, respectively

  • Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ September jobs report was delayed, ADP’s private-sector jobs data pointed to continued labor market softening, reinforcing expectations of a second rate cut

Healthcare indices outperformed the broader market last week as the Pfizer-Trump deal gave hope that more favorable deals around drug pricing would be coming soon. The NYSE Pharma Index and the NBI were up 9.9% and 6.3%, respectively

Notable changes in share price:

• Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENTA): Shares rose 44.7% after the Company reported positive Phase 2b results in RSV, demonstrating strong efficacy in adults with acute infection who are at high risk of complications

• MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ: MLTX): Shares fell 86.4% after the Company reported disappointing results from its Phase 3 trial in hidradenitis suppurativa

• KALA BIO (NASDAQ: KALA): Shares fell 89.4% after the Company announced that its Phase 2b trial for persistent corneal epithelial defect failed to meet all primary and secondary endpoints

Sources: Pitchbook, Biomedtracker, and CapIQ

Equity Markets

IPO Markets:

No companies completed IPOs last week

One company filed an S-1 last week:

• Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA intends to raise ~$760.0M to advance its portfolio of prosthetics, orthotics, and mobility technologies supporting people with limited mobility worldwide. The IPO would continue the major trend we have seen this year of commercial-stage MedTech companies

Of 20 companies in the queue, only two intend to raise more than $30.0M in proceeds

IPOs that have priced this year have delivered a median gain of 21.7%, with ~65% of newly public companies trading above their offer price

Follow-On Offering Markets:

There were 12 follow-on equity offerings last week totaling $710.2M, including:

• Hansa Biopharma (STO: HNSA) raised $71.3M to support BLA filing and US commercial launch preparations for imlifidase, a first-in-class IgG antibody-cleaving enzyme therapy for desensitization kidney transplantation. DNB Carnegie acted as a joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner.

• Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ: OCUL) raised $475.0M to fund clinical development of AXPAXLI (axitinib hydrogel injection), including an open-label extension study for wet AMD and Phase 3 trials for non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy

• Palisade Bio (NASDAQ: PALI) raised $138.0M to advance clinical development of PALI-2108, a PDE4 B/D inhibitor in Phase 1b for ulcerative colitis and fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease, and to support additional preclinical programs across inflammatory indications

• Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENTA) raised $74.8M to advance clinical development of zelicapavir, a Phase 2b oral antiviral targeting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as fund additional early-stage immunology programs

PIPE/RDO Markets:

• There were six PIPE/RDO deals last week raising an aggregate $42.9M

Licensing

M & A

Venture Financing

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