Sanofi M&A activity: what, when and why?

An in-depth look at the French drugmaker's movements on the deal-making front.

Recent pharma M&A activity

Over the last five years, pharma M&A activity reached record highs as companies acquired innovative biotechs to plug their pipeline gaps. Price tags soared as private and public investors signed deals for new therapeutics in oncology, rare diseases, and immune inflammatory disorders. The initial bubble in 2018 and 2019 was followed by a quieter period as pharma adjusted to the fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic and many believe there will be resurgence to pre-pandemic levels as pharma seek out new growth areas (Figure 1).