An all time record year for pharma/biotech M&A in 2015

While 2014 was a memorable year for mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, 2015 was an even more spectacular year for such activity, which included the biggest-ever pharma transaction of $160 billion.

Even ahead of the Pfizer/Allergan mega-merger (of which more later), the value of M&A activity in the sectors was valued at over $300 million, compared with an estimated $250 billion in full-year 2014. In terms of numbers, there were 166 M&A deals announced in 2015, some of which have yet to complete, compared with 137 in 2014, according to The Pharma Letter’s tracking (see full table attached). Moreover, the number of deals exceeding $1 billion was 30 in 2015 versus 26 in 2014 and 20 in 2013.

Much of the activity has been prompted by the loss of earnings due to patent expiries on blockbuster drugs, along with declining R&D productivity and pressure on pricing, which in the second half of 2015 also came to the fore in USA, where price hikes on drugs have thus far been unregulated.