The company has admitted making mistakes in its R&D, but must now convince investors that its new multi-modality approach will pay off.

German pharma takes global rights to preclinical bispecific antibody, while Surrozen will focus on Phase I candidates for inflammatory bowel disease and alcoholic hepatitis.

Analysts are scratching their heads over what direction the Belgian biotech will take in the coming months and years, with all eyes on an R&D day in October.

During Q2, biopharma merger and acquisition value reached $25.4bn and drew in $27.3bn in potential deal value from alliances. Device company M&A values reached $2.7bn, while in vitro diagnostic firms and research tools players completed M&A activity that totaled $534.3m.