MACRA Is Spooking Physician Medical Groups

With a full quarter left to go in 2016, mergers and acquisitions in the Physician Medical Group sector have caught up to last year’s total number of transactions. In 2015, 89 deals were announced. Through September 26, 2016, the sector’s deal volume has reached 88. One factor contributing to the increase in activity is the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) passed in April 2015. The bipartisan bill took aim at physician practices treating Medicare Part B patients, and awarded those that went with a value-based reimbursement schedule versus those that stayed with the fee-for-service model. The true impetus, however, came from the aggressive implementation... Read More »

Preliminary Data: Q3 M and A

There’s still one week left to go in the month of September, and the third quarter, but the trends have already established themselves. Merger and acquisition activity in health care dropped 20% compared with the previous quarter, down to 331 deals compared with 415 in Q2:16. The third quarter also pales in comparison to the same quarter a year earlier, when 411 deals were posted (-19%). Even with a week to go, it’s obvious that deal making has slowed considerably and likely won’t recover to those levels. Spending was also much lower than in the previous quarter, and the year-ago period. At the moment, $45.9 billion is on the books for Q3:16, down 48% compared with... Read More »

Allergan Is Bullish on Biotech

Ever since Allergan (NYSE: AGN) completed the $40.5 billion sale of its generics business to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) on August 2, the pharma giant is targeting biotech companies with a vengeance. In September alone (and we’re only talking about three weeks at this point), the company has announced four deals, totalling $1.28 billion. Year-to-date, Allergan has announced nine transactions for a total of $1.67 billion, more than Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) seven deals but far behind the $19.8 billion Pfizer committed to those transactions. (Pfizer’s biggest deal this year, the $13.5 billion acquisition of Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN), was announced in August.)... Read More »

Allergan Adds Tobira to Its GI Pipeline

Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) shows no signs of slowing its acquisition pace this year, and just solidified its lead in therapeutics for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an incurable disease affecting approximately 5% of the U.S. population. The pharma giant announced its acquisition of Tobira Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TBRA), This transaction marks the company’s eighth in 2016, and $1.63 billion spent in upfront payments alone since January. Tobira came with an upfront purchase price of $533.6 million, or $28.35 per share, and up to $49.84 per share in Contingent Value Rights that may be payable based on the successful completion of certain milestones, for a total consideration of up to... Read More »