Eight $1bn+ alliances were penned in January. Topping the list was a potential $4.4bn deal between Neurocrine Biosciences and Voyager Therapeutics to advance multiple gene therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases.

Mid-sized M&A, collaborations, creative financing, and biotech consolidation will feature in 2023. IPOs and follow-ons play bit-parts.

As the usual flurry of deals coincides with the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, AbbVie signed an mRNA pact with Anima and a cancer research tie-up with Immunome.

Interview: Twelve months on from exiting Biogen, Al Sandrock is once again leading innovation in neuroscience, and hopes to crack the tau nut in Alzheimer’s and prove that Voyager’s next-generation gene therapy system will be a breakthrough.