A choice asset in the middle of a pandemic, pharma companies could see the investment bubble burst once normalcy is on the horizon. But interest will continue in innovators, rather than big pharma specifically, predicts an expert panel featuring Biogen's chairman, a former Sanofi CEO and an ex-NIH director.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has seen a hectic pace of cancer deal-making, including the two largest biopharma M&A deals of the year and 23 with upfront value of at least $100m.

Merck & Co. will pay Seattle Genetics $725m up front in cash under the two deals and make a $1bn equity investment in the company, providing financial flexibility to broadly fund the pipeline.

It has been a tough couple of months for the Belgian biotech since the FDA surprisingly rebuffed its JAK inhibitor filgotinib but promising data on the oral autotaxin inhibitor ziritaxestat helped soften the blow and drive up Galapagos stock.