Amazon Scoops Up PillPack for $1 Billion

Amazon Scoops Up PillPack for $1 Billion

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) finally took the plunge into the pharmaceutical market with its approximately $1 billion acquisition of five-year-old PillPack, an online pharmacy startup based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Financial terms weren’t disclosed in the deal’s announcement, but on June 28, the day of the announcement, The Wall Street Journal quoted sources on the price. In April 2018, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) was reported to be in discussions with PillPack, and targeting a price under $1 billion, according to CNBC. Amazon was also said to be holding  discussions with the company at the time. PillPack is an online pharmacy that delivers medications in pre-sorted dose packaging and... Read More »

Q1:17 Biotechnology Deals Keep Climbing

Biotechnology deal activity has climbed steadily over the past five quarters. The sector reached 62 transactions in Q1:17, an increase of 13% over the previous quarter and up 94% year-over-year. The total is 31% of the 203 deals announced in the previous 12 months. M&A in this sector will remain active for years to come, as pharmaceutical companies that have abandoned their own R&D turn to buying up smaller biotechs with promising clinical-stage compounds. The 21st Century Cures Act also benefits this sector, with its billions of dollars in financing for both the “Cancer Moonshot” and the BRAIN Initiative. In the first quarter, 20 of the 62 transactions involved the purchase of an... Read More »