Other Deals Are Up 4500% in 2026 — Here's the Data

Forty-six deals in six months versus one in the prior half — that is a 4500% increase in 'other' deal activity between the period of 2025-07-12 to 2026-01-12 and 2026-01-12 to 2026-07-12. This is not statistical noise. It represents a decisive pivot by pharma BD organizations toward partnerships that fall outside traditional therapeutic-area silos — platform technology acquisitions, enabling-science licenses, AI-driven discovery collaborations, and hybrid manufacturing agreements that are reshaping how the industry sources innovation.

The Data — Other Deal Activity, Period over Period

The magnitude here deserves context. A single deal in the back half of 2025 suggested near-zero appetite for these arrangements. Six months later, this category is generating more transactions than many established therapeutic verticals. When you see a 46x jump, you are not looking at incremental growth. You are looking at a structural reallocation of BD attention and capital.

What's Driving the Trend

Platform economics have eclipsed asset economics. The Bio-Techne / Merck KGaA deal — valued at $11.3 billion — is the clearest proof point. Merck KGaA did not pay $11.3B for a single molecule. It paid for a technology substrate that underpins multiple programs across therapeutic areas. This is the new playbook: acquire capabilities, not just candidates. When Big Pharma faces pipeline gaps across oncology, immunology, and metabolic disease simultaneously, buying a platform that addresses all three is more capital-efficient than running three separate asset-level licensing deals. The other licensing 2026 surge is, at its core, a response to this calculus.

AI-native drug design has graduated from pilot to procurement. The Generate:Biomedicines / Novartis collaboration signals that generative biology is no longer a science experiment — it is a deal category. Novartis is not licensing a specific antibody; it is licensing a generative engine. These deals resist traditional TA classification because they span modalities and indications by design. As more AI-native biotechs reach partnering readiness, expect this category to keep absorbing volume from traditional licensing buckets.

Capital scarcity is forcing creative structure. Silence Therapeutics licensing its RNAi platform to Hansoh for $16M upfront reflects a market where biotechs with enabling technology but limited runway are monetizing capabilities rather than waiting to advance assets themselves. Meanwhile, YaoPharma's $150M upfront / $2.05B TDV deal with Pfizer shows cross-border platform-level transactions are commanding real premiums when the strategic fit is right. The dispersion in upfront values — from $16M to $11.3B — tells you this category is not monolithic. It ranges from opportunistic capability grabs to transformational acquisitions. BD teams need to benchmark against the right comparables, not the category average.

Notable Deals

The Bio-Techne / Merck KGaA transaction dominates this list and deserves scrutiny. At $11.3B with no apparent milestone structure — the upfront equals the TDV — this looks like an outright acquisition structured as a licensing deal, likely for tax or regulatory efficiency. That framing matters: when 'licensing' deals carry acquisition-grade price tags, the competitive dynamics for every other platform licensor change. Boards will use this as a valuation anchor.

The Generate:Biomedicines / Novartis deal, despite undisclosed financials, may prove equally consequential. Novartis has now placed multiple bets on AI-driven discovery platforms. The absence of disclosed terms does not mean the deal is small — it means the structure likely involves equity, option rights, or program-level economics that resist headline summarization. BD teams tracking other deal trends 2026 should monitor for amended filings.

YaoPharma's $150M upfront from Pfizer at a $2.05B TDV signals continued appetite from US majors for China-origin platform assets, despite geopolitical headwinds. The 7.3% upfront-to-TDV ratio is lean, suggesting Pfizer negotiated heavily milestone-loaded terms — a buyer's structure in a category where sellers are increasingly willing to accept back-end-weighted deals to secure marquee partners.

What This Means for BD Teams Right Now

If you are selling platform technology: this is a seller's market, but only if your platform has multi-TA applicability. The deals getting done at premium valuations — Bio-Techne, Generate:Biomedicines — share a common feature: they enable programs across multiple therapeutic areas or modalities. Single-indication enabling tech is not commanding the same multiples. Position accordingly.

If you are buying: move fast on AI and biologics-enabling platforms. The window where generative biology companies will accept early-stage partnership terms is closing. Novartis, Merck KGaA, and Pfizer are all in-market. Every platform deal announced compresses the available target universe and inflates the next negotiation. Waiting until 2027 means paying 2027 prices for 2026 assets.

Deal structures in this category are bifurcating. You are seeing either full-value acquisitions disguised as licenses (Bio-Techne) or heavily milestone-loaded agreements with modest upfronts (YaoPharma, Silence). The middle ground — balanced upfront/milestone splits — is thinning out. BD teams should pressure-test their term sheets against both ends of this spectrum using the Ambrosia Deal Calculator to understand where their proposed structure sits relative to current market reality.

Classification matters for competitive intelligence. Many of these 46 deals will eventually be reclassified as oncology, immunology, or CNS deals once specific programs emerge from platform partnerships. If your competitive intelligence function only monitors traditional TA categories, you are missing the earliest signals of where Big Pharma capital is flowing. Add 'other' and 'platform' deal tracking to your BD dashboards now.

Benchmark your deal against current market rates. Whether you are structuring a platform license, an AI collaboration, or a cross-border enabling-technology agreement, the 2026 landscape has shifted dramatically. Use the Ambrosia calculator to stress-test your upfront, milestones, and royalty assumptions against the latest closed transactions in this fast-moving category.