According to the report pharma industry M&A activity increased 24% in the three months to December 31 and the total value of the deals grew 102.8% to over $37bn (€27bn), which acquisitions in the biopharmaceutical space providing much of the impetus.
MedImmune’s acquisition of Aplimmune and Amgen’s takeover of Onyx were among the major biopharma sector deals deals the PriceWaterhouscoopers (PwC) team said had driven the increase in value.
“Large pharmaceutical companies, which historically have been frequent acquirers, focused on rebuilding their product pipelines through acquisitions of relatively smaller biopharmaceutical players.”
Similarly, they cited Salix Pharmaceutical’s takeover of gastroenterology-focused biopharmaceutical firm Santarus for $2.6bn, Grifols $1.7bn purchase of Novartis’ blood diagnostics business and Endo Health Solutions $1.6bn acquisition of Paladin as important.