{"id":285147,"date":"2026-01-15T04:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T04:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/285147\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T04:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T04:47:08","slug":"inside-the-j-p-morgan-healthcare-extravaganza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/285147\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Extravaganza"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s edition of InnovationRx, we look at upcoming M&A activity, a \u2018holy grail\u2019 pill for sleep apnea, Pomelo Care\u2019s expansion, Nvidia and Lilly\u2019s $1 billion AI venture, and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

This week kicked off the healthcare industry\u2019s yearly extravaganza<\/strong>: The 44th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, which is typically a hotbed of dealmaking activity.<\/p>\n

This year, the M&A talk ahead of the San Francisco event was relatively muted. Lilly agreed last week to buy Ventyx, which is working on a drug to treat recurrent pericarditis<\/a>, for $1.2 billion.<\/a> But while there were no megadeal announcements, the potential for one lurked in the background. On Thursday, the Financial Times reported<\/a> that Merck was in talks to buy cancer drug developer Revolution Medicines for up to $32 billion. Shares are up 52% over the past month.<\/p>\n

Whether a deal for RevMed ultimately happens, it seems likely that dealmaking will continue in 2026. Biopharma M&A activity reached $116 billion in 2025, more than double the $52 billion of 2024, according to a recent research report by J.P. Morgan based on data from DealForma. <\/p>\n

Tailwinds abound for this year. As EY noted in its recent annual M&A Firepower report, \u201cdeals and alliances will remain central to life sciences growth strategies\u201d for several reasons. For one, Big Pharma faces a coming \u201cpatent cliff\u201d for numerous blockbuster drugs, including Keytruda (Merck\u2019s cancer treatment) and Eliquis (Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer\u2019s blood thinner). For another, the battle for a share of the obesity drug market, which is expected to reach $100 billion in sales, shows no signs of slowing down. Finally, continued development of novel therapies in China means that established companies and startups alike will be jockeying to gain access to them.<\/p>\n

A ‘Holy Grail’ Sleep Apnea Pill Could Be On The Market Next Year<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apnimed CEO Larry Miller<\/p>\n

Albie Colantonio for Forbes<\/p>\n

In November 2016<\/strong>, Harvard researcher Dr. Luigi Taranto Montemurro was in a lab at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital observing the sleep of a middle-aged man with obstructive sleep apnea, who lay in a bed attached to wires to track whether he stopped breathing overnight. Taranto Montemurro was testing a potential medication, but he didn\u2019t expect much. Researchers had been trying for decades to come up with a drug that could fix the common condition\u2014in which breathing pauses during sleep, sometimes lowering oxygen levels to a dangerous degree\u2014and every earlier effort had failed.<\/p>\n

Then he realized that the sleeping man was breathing normally.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually this guy was full of apneas and suddenly he was breathing well. So I went to see if something was off on the equipment that it was not connected properly,\u201d Taranto Montemurro told Forbes. But the hookup was fine. The combination of two existing drugs he\u2019d been testing had worked. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Wow, I can\u2019t believe my eyes,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fast forward nine years later, and Cambridge, Mass.-based startup Apnimed, which acquired the rights to the potential medication from Harvard, is preparing to file for FDA approval for a nightly pill based on those two drugs for the breathing disorder. In very simplified terms, the medication works by waking up the brain stem, preventing full muscle relaxation in the throat, while allowing the brain itself to rest during sleep. If all goes well, it could be on the market in the first half of 2027, offering a potentially life-changing treatment for some of the estimated 80 million people in the U.S. with sleep apnea.<\/p>\n

Read more here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This $1.7 Billion Startup Is Expanding Virtual Care From Moms To All Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Flatiron Health exec Marta Bralic Kerns founded Pomelo Care in 2021 to solve one of the most difficult problems in U.S. healthcare: how to improve maternal and infant care to patients covered by Medicaid, a notoriously difficult population to treat because of chronic conditions, lack of consistent medical care and often life instabilities. Today the startup, which also works with commercial insurance, covers 25 million lives and claims to support nearly 7% of all U.S. births. <\/p>\n

Last week, Bralic Kerns told Forbes that the company had raised $92 million led by venture firm Stripes at a valuation of $1.7 billion. That represents a more than three-fold increase over its previous valuation of $500 million in June 2024, according to VC database PitchBook. Andreessen Horowitz, Box Group and others also participated in the funding. With the new funds, Bralic Kerns plans to expand her virtual care model to women at all stages of their lives, including postmenopausal women, and children.<\/p>\n

Read more here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Deal of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nvidia and Eli Lilly announced<\/a> a $1 billion investment in an innovation laboratory in the Bay Area. The venture will focus on developing AI models that can be used to accelerate the development of new medicines. The site, which will be built over the next five years, will contain both pure computational engines as well as laboratories to test and validate the AI discoveries. <\/p>\n

WHAT WE\u2019RE READING<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Senate report<\/a> found that UnitedHealth Group employed \u201caggressive strategies\u201d to boost payments from the Medicare Advantage program.<\/p>\n

Around 15,000 nurses in New York City went on strike<\/a> this week over healthcare benefits, safety protections and staffing standards. <\/p>\n

The five-year survival rate across cancer reached 70%, up from 50% in 1971, according to an annual report<\/a> from the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n

Pharma company GSK said that its drug candidate bepirovirsen showed positive results<\/a> against hepatitis B in clinical trials\u2013potentially ending the need for daily medication in some patients. <\/p>\n

Biotech startup Veradermics, which is led by Forbes 30 Under 30 alum Reid Waldman<\/a> and is developing a hair regrowth drug, filed for an IPO<\/a> to raise up to $100 million. <\/p>\n

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