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

Companies have not spent long sitting on cash piles freed up by the long-awaited US tax reforms after they were approved by the Senate last month.

The Financial Times  called it pharma’s strongest start to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for a decade, and if January is a sign of things to come, it could be an unprecedented year of deals in the sector.

Around $30 billion has been spent over the month, with French pharma major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) and US biotech Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG) among the biggest spenders.