This year has so far been a huge one for healthcare deals–but just wait, a new report says. 2016 will be “the year of merger mania.”
According to the annual report from PwC’s Health Research Institute, in 2016, “high-profile” mergers and acquisitions are likely to continue.
But does that mean industry watchers should expect to see more transactions in the Pfizer-Allergan vein, which saw two hulking pharmas agree to a merger pact? Not necessarily.
“Drug companies are looking beyond traditional M&A by acquiring ‘beyond-the-pill’ products and services to bolster their portfolios and pipelines,” PwC notes. Take Teva, for example, which recently nabbed Massachusetts’ Gecko Health Innovations. The so-called smart inhaler company boasts a hardware and software system that connects patients, caregivers and doctors to help improve patient adherence, and that’s technology the Israeli pharma wants to help keep people taking their respiratory meds.
Teva’s not the only one looking outside the box to grab a competitive edge. Companies are experimenting with all sorts of digital strategies, including mobile apps, devices and text messaging, to boost adherence.
And that’s a good thing for companies trying to clear antitrust hurdles, PwC points out–especially for a company such as Teva, which competes in the rapidly consolidating generics business: “Regulatory scrutiny will only heighten as consolidation continues, and those who go to market in unconventional ways may be better positioned to address it.”
Meanwhile, companies are still helping the sector post a banner M&A year in 2015; global activity in the pharma, medical and biotech spheres over the first three quarters of this year hit its largest-to-date value since at least 2001, Mergermarket said in October. Over that period, the industries turned out 954 transactions worth $367.6 billion.
By Carly Helfand
Source: Fierce Pharma
The companies will explore opportunities to apply Flagship’s innovative bioplatforms – an ecosystem that currently comprises 41 companies – to scientific challenges in disease areas within cardiometabolic and rare diseases and initiate research programmes based on these.
BD is expanding its long-running partnership with the blood collection company Babson Diagnostics. The two companies have been working together since 2019 on a device that can gather small volumes of blood from the capillaries in the fingertip without requiring any specialized training, and beginning with a focus on supporting primary care in retail settings.
Wednesday, Australian biotech CSL said (PDF) the regulatory review of its $11.7 billion acquisition of Switzerland’s Vifor Pharma will take “a few more months,” suggesting it won’t be able to close the transaction by June 2022 as previously expected.
