Pharmaceutical and biotech companies spent $85bn on acquisitions in the first five months of the year, marking a dramatic recovery in dealmaking as they seek to replenish their drug pipelines.
The surge in M&A, compared to just $35.6bn in deals in the same period of 2022 and $49.1bn the year before, according to Stifel, an investment bank, is being fuelled by large cash reserves amassed by Big Pharma during the coronavirus pandemic and investor concerns about future growth prospects.
At the start of year, the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies held more than $1.4tn in dealmaking firepower, according to an analysis by EY. They also face the expiry of patents stretching to the end of the decade, which exposes $200bn of their top-selling branded drugs to generic competition and will squeeze revenues.