Majors Moving Away From Acquisitions & Mergers

Despite the high number of mergers and acquisitions among medium-sizeddrug companies, 1997 was marked by the major pharmaceutical firms concentrating on refocusing their businesses onto life sciences. Rhone-Poulenc was the prime example, as it decided in July to buy the minority stake it did not already own in the pharmaceutical business Rhone-Poulenc Rorer. Despite having to pay more than it had originally planned, R-P announced the completion of the deal in December.

One of the principal deals to reshape the industry, however, involved the merger of Amersham International and Nycomed, touted in July and finalized in October. The transaction created the world's leading developer and supplier of in vivo diagnostic imaging agents, while the earlier merger of Amersham's life science business with Pharmacia Biotech set up the world's leading research-based biotechnology supply business.

The deal that caught the eye for the last six months of 1997 was Roche's announcement in May that it planned to acquire the Bermuda-based holding company Corange, which has a 100% stake in Boehringer Mannheim.