A year is a long time in biopharma. Pharmaprojects’ annual pipeline review finds changes in the therapeutic spread of drug candidates and a reordering of the top R&D companies, as Chinese firms made their presence felt all the more over the past 12 months.

Eli Lilly, striving to outpace Novo Nordisk, dominated the dealmaking scene in 2023 by executing six acquisitions. Although Pfizer, BMS and AbbVie sealed the largest M&A deals of the year, they did not lead in terms of volume.

Research head Dan Skovronsky said it’s hard to improve upon tirzepatide, but Lilly is advancing early and late-stage obesity drugs while investigating internal and external assets in weight loss and beyond.

Private Company Edition: TCGX raises $1bn for its second fund, Goldman Sachs’ first fund totals $650m and Panlin’s biopharma fund grows. Also, Apollo’s series C increases to $260m, Avistone closes a $140m series B, OnCusp raises a $100m series A and HI-Bio grabs $95m in series B cash.