Upfront Briefing
Gilead’s back in the shopping aisle: a Tubulis takeout worth up to $5B to deepen its ADC bench beyond Trodelvy.
Meanwhile, policy put Humira on the TrumpRx list alongside cheaper biosimilars — and deal filings around Merck’s Terns buy added some spicy color on bid dynamics (read: price).
Tape Action
| Instrument |
Last close |
1D % |
YTD % |
| S&P 500 |
6,616.9 |
+0.1% |
(3.3%) |
| Nasdaq 100 |
24,202.4 |
0.0% |
(5.0%) |
| Russell 2000 |
2,544.9 |
+0.2% |
+1.8% |
| Healthcare (XLV) |
146.6 |
+0.2% |
(5.3%) |
| Biotech (XBI) |
128.9 |
0.0% |
+1.9% |
| Nasdaq Biotech (NBI) |
5,814.2 |
(0.2%) |
(2.2%) |
| Clinical Trials (BBC) |
43.1 |
+0.7% |
+11.6% |
|
- U.S. tape finished mixed after a volatile session tied to Iran / Strait of Hormuz headlines: the S&P 500 still closed modestly higher (+0.1%) and the Russell 2000 added +0.2%, suggesting investors were willing to buy the late-day rebound rather than de-risk wholesale.
- Biotech lagged broader risk appetite: XBI was essentially flat (+0.04%) while NBI fell (0.4%), which reads less like broad capitulation and more like continued selectivity around large-cap biotech and earnings-quality names.
- Healthcare held in better than biotech, with XLV up +0.2%, reinforcing the market’s current preference for defensiveness and cash-flow durability even as investors still selectively added small-cap beta.
- Market data: U.S. close Tue 07-Apr-2026.
The Big 3
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1
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Gilead to buy Tubulis in ADC deal worth up to $5B
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- Gilead agreed to acquire Tubulis for $3.15B upfront plus up to $1.85B in milestones, adding next-generation ADC capability and two key assets: TUB-040, already in Phase 1b/2 in ovarian and lung cancer, and earlier-stage TUB-030.
- Why it matters: Gilead is paying real money for a clinical-stage payload/linker toolkit and an asset base that can matter beyond Trodelvy. For investors, the readthrough is that differentiated ADC engineering still commands scarcity value — especially when attached to programs already moving toward later-stage development — and that large-cap pharma remains willing to pay up for oncology platform depth rather than wait for fully de-risked assets.
- Source: BioCentury
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2
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White House adds AbbVie's Humira to TrumpRx list
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- The White House added AbbVie's Humira to TrumpRx alongside cheaper biosimilars. The move spotlights public-channel pricing pressure in the Humira market.
- Why it matters: Humira is already a melting-ice-cube franchise, so the key investor question is not whether public scrutiny hurts sentiment — it is whether channel pressure accelerates price compression faster than AbbVie can manage mix, rebates and switch dynamics. Putting Humira on TrumpRx sharpens attention on the pace of residual cash-flow erosion in a franchise the market already treats as ex-growth, while also reminding investors that policy pressure can still drag legacy blockbuster math lower even late in the loss-of-exclusivity curve.
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Source:
Endpoints
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3
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Filings: Terns accepted lower Merck bid after updated data review
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Updated merger filings show Terns previously received higher offers, including proposals at up to $61/share and a CVR structure, before bidders revisited valuation after additional diligence on TERN-701 and Merck ultimately won with a $53/share takeout.
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Why it matters:
The investor signal is not simply “there was a higher bid.” It is that incremental clinical diligence changed how buyers underwrote TERN-701’s differentiation versus Scemblix, which in turn reset price. That is a useful reminder that in competitive biotech auctions, valuation can compress quickly when updated datasets make a lead asset look less cleanly de-risked than headline ASH enthusiasm first implied.
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Source:
BioPharma Dive
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Everything Else that broke
- Novo Nordisk launches high-dose Wegovy. — STAT
- Study: $35 monthly insulin cap increased patient access. — Endpoints
- FDA approves and launch begins for generic nintedanib capsules. — PR
- BioCentury: Precision mTOR targeting in TSC epilepsy. — BioCentury
- Endpoints: What’s familiar in health tech’s Q1 funding totals. — Endpoints
Deal Flow
| BioBucks 2026 Deal Trackers • Updated weekly ⬇️
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M&A / BD&L
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Gilead to buy Tubulis in ADC deal worth up to $5B, adding depth beyond Trodelvy. — BioCentury
- Filings: Terns rebuffed a higher bid before Merck deal. — BioPharma Dive
- Lilly pays AC Immune CHF10M (~$12.5M) to expand Alzheimer’s collaboration as a candidate moves closer to the clinic. — Fierce Biotech
- Novonesis buys Southeast Asia production facility. — PR
- ATLATL and Daiichi Sankyo sign APAC biotech innovation deal. — PR
- RoosterBio, MineBio partner in China on MSC, exosome bioprocessing. — PR
VC / Private Financings
- Kytopen disclosed a Series B financing led by Telegraph Hill Partners, with participation from existing investors, to support commercial expansion of its non-viral cell-engineering platform. — PR
IPOs / Follow-Ons
- Daré Biosciences opens public offering aimed at retail. — BioSpace
Things that make you go hmmm ...
Oncology has taken the majority of M&A dollars. — Source: L.E.K.
Academic Corner - Zodasiran for cholesterol and triglyceride lowering in patients with hyperlipidemia: final report of phase 1 basket trial. — Nature Medicine
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