A fresh wave of big deals

A burst of dealmaking hit biotech and private markets in early April, led by Neurocrine Biosciences’ agreement to buy Soleno Therapeutics for $2.9 billion in cash. (neurocrine.com) Neurocrine said on April 6 that it will pay $53 a share for Soleno through a tender offer, a price that represented a 34% premium to Soleno’s April 2 close and values the equity at about $2.9 billion. The buyer said it will fund the deal with cash on hand and expects the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2026. (sec.gov) The asset Neurocrine is buying is Vykat XR, a pill approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration on March 26, 2025 for hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder marked by constant hunger. Soleno reported $190.4 million in 2025 net revenue from the drug after launching it in the second quarter of 2025. (biospace.com 1) (biospace.com 2) The purchase pushes Neurocrine beyond the neuroscience franchise that still anchors its business. Neurocrine reported $2.51 billion in 2025 sales for Ingrezza, its tardive dyskinesia drug, and told investors Soleno would broaden its endocrinology and rare-disease portfolio. (prnewswire.com 1) (prnewswire.com 2) The same week, attention shifted to a much larger possible capital-markets event: SpaceX’s planned initial public offering. Reuters reported on April 2 that SpaceX had discussed a roughly $5 billion anchor investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as it sounded out investors on a valuation above $2 trillion. (money.usnews.com 1) (money.usnews.com 2) Reuters reported again on April 6 that SpaceX had briefed bankers on an early June roadshow and a plan to reserve a large block of shares for retail investors. CNBC, citing Reuters, said the company was seeking to raise $75 billion at a valuation of as much as $1.75 trillion, showing that the price range was still moving as discussions continued. (cnbc.com) That gap in reported numbers is part of the story. Bloomberg’s figure was “more than $2 trillion,” while Reuters’ later reporting described a target of up to $1.75 trillion, and Reuters also said deliberations were ongoing and the final terms could change before any listing. (money.usnews.com) (cnbc.com) SpaceX is coming to market from a far lower private benchmark. Bloomberg reported in December 2025 that an insider share sale valued the company at about $800 billion, and Reuters said last week that SpaceX posted a nearly $5 billion loss in 2025 on more than $18.5 billion in revenue, underscoring how much of the IPO pitch rests on future growth. (bloomberg.com) (msn.com) Not every investor sees the Soleno deal the same way, either. BioPharma Dive reported that some Wall Street analysts still question Vykat XR’s growth trajectory and safety profile even after its first year on the market, while Neurocrine is pitching the medicine as a durable growth asset with patent protection extending into the mid-2040s. (biopharmadive.com) (prnewswire.com) So the fresh wave of big deals is real, but it is uneven. One transaction is signed and headed for a second-quarter close, and the other is still a moving target built on banker meetings, sovereign-fund talks and valuation tests that have not yet produced final terms. (sec.gov) (cnbc.com)