1. Historical Examples of Disease-Linked Bonds Pandemic Bonds (World Bank PEF) The most prominent example is the World Bank's Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) bonds, launched in June 2017 in response to the devastating 2014–16 West African Ebola outbreak. This was the first time pandemic risk in

The week of September 15-20, 2025 witnessed over 40 distinct biotech pharmaceutical transactions totaling more than $6 billion in disclosed value, with potential milestone values exceeding $14 billion. This period marked a critical inflection point in cross-border licensing activity, with Chinese biotechs securing major Western partnerships despite looming regulatory restrictions

In boardrooms and biotech conferences alike, one phrase has become inescapable: “our AI-powered platform.” Startups in drug discovery, clinical decision support, and diagnostics proudly tout proprietary artificial intelligence as their secret sauce. Yet peel back the glossy pitch decks, and many of these supposed AI pioneers are simply piggybacking on

Poxel SA, a French biopharmaceutical company that successfully developed and commercialized the first-in-class diabetes drug TWYMEEG® in Japan, filed for judicial reorganization on July 29, 2025, after shareholders rejected critical financial resolutions triggering immediate debt defaults despite securing a $50 million royalty monetization deal with OrbiMed just months earlier. The

Executive Summary OrbiMed's Royalty & Credit Opportunities strategy has emerged as a prominent non-dilutive financing platform in the healthcare sector. Since launching its first dedicated royalty/credit fund in 2011, OrbiMed has steadily expanded this business, raising successive funds and deploying capital into royalty monetizations and credit deals

Venture Debt in Biotech & Pharma: A 2025 Deep Dive Introduction: The Rise of Biotech Venture Debt Venture debt has emerged as a critical financing tool for biotech and pharmaceutical startups, providing non-dilutive capital to extend runway and reach key R&D milestones. Unlike traditional bank loans, venture debt

Executive Summary In the pharmaceutical industry, royalties serve as a fundamental mechanism for sharing value from intellectual property and products. A royalty typically grants the IP owner a percentage of sales or profits in exchange for allowing another party to use, manufacture, or sell a drug or technology. This comprehensive

Eli Lilly’s latest act of corporate altruism arrived in September 2025 in the form of TuneLab, an artificial intelligence platform dressed up as an equaliser for the drug-discovery industry. The firm claims to have spent more than $1 billion curating preclinical, safety and pharmacological data across hundreds of thousands

Pharmaceutical & Biotech Transactions: September 8-14, 2025 Executive Summary The week of September 8-14, 2025 witnessed 22 verified transactions in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, with disclosed values exceeding $3.9 billion. Despite being immediately after Labor Day, the period marked significant activity in AI-enabled drug discovery platforms, gene therapy

Fractional equity funding for biotech companies - achieved through traditional securities divided into smaller units rather than cryptocurrency - has evolved from experimental concept to legitimate funding mechanism, with over $1.3 billion raised through U.S. equity crowdfunding alone since 2016. The model enables retail investors to purchase biotech