Look back at pharma news in week to Jan 12

After a quiet year of M&A activity in 2017, 2018 has already kicked off with two deals exceeding a billion dollars. Novo Nordisk’s rejected $3.1 billion bid for Belgium’s Ablynx – along with its lead candidate caplacizumab -attracted attention, and expectations of a higher offer, as did Celgene’s proposed $1.1 billion acquisition of Impact Biomedicines and its fedratinib. Among deal-making news, there was Chinese biotech firm BeiGene’s interesting accord with Mirati Therapeutics for lung cancer candidate sitravatinib. Also, AstraZeneca’s US Food and Drug Administration approval of its Lynparza, making it the first drug to be cleared for BRAC-positive breast cancer, has resulted in speculation about competitors.

Novo Nordisk likely to up its rejected bid for Ablynx

Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, the world’s largest diabetes care company, has made its largest takeover offer ever, an unsolicited 2.6 billion-euro ($3.1 billion) bid for Belgium’s Ablynx, to beef up its lesser known blood-disorder unit and rekindle growth.