February round-up of pharmaceutical & biotech M&A activity

7 March 2018

Given how busy mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity was across pharma and biotech in January, it was perhaps not surprising that February was a quieter month, but three of pharma's biggest players still dipped their hands in their pockets.

Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG:SIX) was responsible for the month's biggest buy - the $1.9 billion acquisition of health tech start-up Flatiron Health that will interest observers of collaborations between drugmakers and artificial intelligence companies.

There were also deals involving Japanese pharma Astellas (TYO: 4503), a tie-up that the company hopes will help it to develop cell therapies, and for Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), with the US drug giant looking to add to its capabilities in the immuno-oncology space.

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