Editor’s Take: Billions are being spent on mergers, acquisitions, and development and commercialization deals for cutting-edge drugs.

This week on “The Friday Brief” … M&A activity leads off, with Werewolf Therapeutics and Ambros Therapeutics merging in an all-stock transaction. The combined company will operate under the Ambros name and focus on advancing Ambros’ development program for CRPS-1.

In a $2.25 billion deal, McKesson is acquiring Precision Medicine Group, a global clinical research and biopharma commercialization services provider.

Turning to partnerships, Hanmi Pharm and Genentech are pairing up to develop, manufacture, and commercialize an investigational metabolic treatment candidate. This would treat obesity and related conditions. Its value may eventually reach as high as $2.3 billion.

Lundbeck and Eversana are partnering to advance AI-powered commercialization across Lundbeck’s commercial organization in the United States.

Elsewhere, Circio and Full Circles Therapeutics have a new research collaboration centered on in-vivo cell therapy. 4basebio and Genezen are joining to advance synthetic, cell-free DNA platforms for next-gen viral vector manufacturing. And Biohaven and SK Biopharmaceuticals have a licensing agreement for a candidate for treatment of epilepsy.

Ribbon-cuttings too this week … Artis BioSolutions opened a Genetic Medicines Center of Excellence in Spain. Novotech is strengthening its presence in Japan with the opening of an office in Tokyo. And Hovione completed the expansion of its tablet manufacturing center in Portugal.

That is a very quick rundown of the major happenings this week. If you’d like to get more in-depth, check out our breaking news coverage at contractpharma.com. Also, remember to sign up for our e-newsletters so you get the latest emailed directly to you.

Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next week on The Friday Brief.