[2024 JPMHC] "Global M&A to Resume"... Renewed Heat in Pharmaceutical and Bio Industries

42nd JP Morgan Healthcare Conference Kicks Off
"Funding Recovers and M&A Expected to Rise Again"
Big Pharma Announces Corporate Shopping
Domestic Companies Also Interested... Successes Highlighted One After Another

"Last year, the global pharmaceutical and bio industry faced a challenging market for the second consecutive year following COVID-19. However, despite these conditions, merger and acquisition (M&A) corporate values were highly evaluated amid solid demand. From this year onward, fundraising is expected to recover, and remarkable innovations are occurring in areas such as diabetes and obesity, which will strengthen the related industries." (Mike Gaito, Head of Healthcare Investment at JP Morgan)

On the 8th, the opening day of the 42nd JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, participants are entering the venue, the Westin St. Francis Hotel, in the early morning local time.
[Photo by Lee Chunhee]

The '2024 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPMHC)', the largest investment event in the global pharmaceutical and bio industry, kicked off on the 8th (local time) at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, USA. Marking its 42nd year, JPMHC is the largest global event in the industry, gathering 14,000 global healthcare companies and investors.

As the event opened early at 7:15 a.m., attendees gathered at the Westin St. Francis Hotel even before sunrise, creating a palpable enthusiasm to overcome the investment winter. According to JP Morgan, the number of one-on-one investment meetings requested this year reached 32,000, the highest since the 2000s, with over 13,000 expected to be finalized. The officially announced companies numbered 614, whose combined market capitalization amounts to $8.2 trillion (approximately 1,800 trillion KRW).

Mike Gaito, Head of Global Healthcare Investment at JP Morgan, is presenting at the 41st JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPMHC) held in January 2023. Photo by JP Morgan

In his opening remarks, Gaito stated, "This year, private equity is also returning to the pharmaceutical and bio industry, and M&A will fully resume," adding, "An environment is being created for large pharmaceutical and bio companies to execute 'bolt-on' strategies by acquiring companies within the same industry." Indeed, multinational pharmaceutical companies attending JPMHC announced successive M&A deals. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) acquired ADC developer Ambrex Biopharma for $2 billion (approximately 2.635 trillion KRW), and Merck merged with bispecific antibody developer Harpoon Therapeutics for $680 million (approximately 900 billion KRW).

Novartis also acquired immunology treatment developer Calypso Biotech for $425 million (approximately 560 billion KRW). Vasant Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, announced, "This morning, we announced the acquisition of Calypso, which has a pipeline in immunology," and added, "Last year, we completed 15 strategic deals totaling $6 billion (approximately 8 trillion KRW), and we will continue to explore deals under $2 billion to build our portfolio."

The progress of domestic companies through technology exports was also evident at the JPMHC venue. CEO Narasimhan highlighted major deals from last year, emphasizing, "We announced a partnership with Chong Kun Dang regarding the HDAC6 inhibitor." In November last year, Chong Kun Dang licensed its cardiovascular treatment 'CKD-510' to Novartis for up to $1.35 billion (approximately 1.73 trillion KRW). Additionally, Joaquin Duato, CEO of J&J, emphasized in discussions the growth potential of Yuhan Corporation's non-small cell lung cancer treatment 'Reclaza' combined with J&J's anticancer drug 'Rybrevant' as a first-line non-chemotherapy treatment method, and mentioned ongoing collaboration with LegoChem Biosciences related to antibody-drug conjugates (ADC).

Furthermore, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) reiterated its acquisition of a leukemia treatment candidate from Orum Therapeutics, with domestic companies' names mentioned throughout the morning at the event. Lee Byung-geon, Chairman of GI Innovation, said, "The fact that four Korean companies were mentioned in the first morning announcements indicates that the status of Korean companies has changed," and added, "I understand that more than half of the applicants for 'Korea Night,' a networking event held during JPMHC, are foreign stakeholders."