On December 22, Shionogi announced plans to acquire Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma's amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's disease") drug business segment. The deal includes core assets such as the oral suspension Radicava ORS and its intravenous formulation, along with related commercialization capabilities. Shionogi stated that the transaction is expected to close on or after April 1, 2026, and will add approximately $700 million in annual global sales post-completion.
According to official disclosures, Shionogi will pay $2.5 billion upfront for Radicava-related assets, with potential future royalty payments under "specific conditions." Upon closing, the Radicava business unit will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shionogi. The company emphasized that this acquisition will help establish a "strong rare disease commercialization platform" in the U.S. market, supporting planned drug launches for conditions like fragile X syndrome, Jordan syndrome, and Pompe disease.
Notably, Radicava's intravenous formulation received FDA approval in 2017 as the first new ALS treatment in decades. Five years later, its oral version also gained U.S. regulatory approval, offering patients a more convenient treatment option. Shionogi has been active in M&A recently, acquiring early-stage rare disease assets from Japan Tobacco earlier this month and partnering with Swiss biotech BioVersys for a preclinical antibiotic project.
On the same day (December 22), Ipsen and Simcere Pharmaceutical’s oncology subsidiary, Simcere Zaiming, announced an exclusive licensing agreement. Ipsen secured global development, manufacturing, and commercialization rights for ADC SIM0613 outside Greater China. Simcere Zaiming stands to receive up to $1.06 billion, including upfront payments, development and regulatory milestones, and tiered royalties based on net sales.
SIM0613, the lead candidate in this collaboration, is a first-in-class and potentially best-in-class ADC targeting leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 15 (LRRC15). This marks Simcere’s third outbound licensing deal in 2025: in June, Simcere Zaiming granted NextCure global rights (ex-China) to ADC SIM0505 and related payload technology in a deal worth up to $745 million. In January, Simcere partnered with AbbVie on trispecific antibody SIM0500 for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, with a potential $1.055 billion deal.
As the year-end M&A window approaches, global pharma asset consolidation is accelerating, with these blockbuster deals highlighting multinational drugmakers' strategic focus on ADCs and rare disease therapies.