2021 was not a bumper year for pharma and biotech M&A

4 January 2022

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Mergers and acquisitions among pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies announced in full year 2021 dropped to their lowest level in more than a decade, which may have been partly influenced by tougher regulations with competition authorities calling for significant divestments to green light deals.

According to The Pharma Letter’s (TPL) analysis, there were just 92 M&A deals in total, compared with 101 in 2020 and 111 in 2018, among which there were just 28 that exceeded $1 billion in value. The biggest deal announced was Australia’s CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) acquisition of Vifor Pharma, valued at $11.7 billion, compared with 2020’s $39 billion buy of Alexion by AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN). A flurry of deals announced in December – a total of 11 for the month - rescued the year’s figure.

Acquisitions had a strong focus on cell and gene therapy makers, as well as immune-oncology companies and rare disease drug developers, to boost the R&D pipelines of pharma majors.

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