Halfway through the month of January 2016, 12 pharmaceutical deals have been announced, with a total of $32.8 billion. You might think that’s a result of the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Summit that’s held every year in the second week of January. That’s only half right.
Last year, only nine pharma deals were announced the entire month of January, with six of them in the first two weeks. In 2014, there were 14 pharma deals in January, 11 of which were announced in the first two weeks.
The biggest deal in the sector this month, Shire plc‘s (NASDAQ: SHPG) $32 billion acquisition of Baxalta Inc. (NYSE: BXLT), was in the works long before the Summit, however. Shire made its first, unsolicited bid of approximately $30.6 billion back in August 2015. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) was undaunted by signs of weakening in the Chinese economy, and paid $120 million for Sirio Pharmaceuticals‘ Treerly Health Co. Ltd., which is one of the top healthcare brands there. Roche (SIX: RO) paid $115 million for Tensha Therapeutics, owned by HealthCare Ventures, which is targeting cancer.
With two weeks left to go in January 2016, anything can happen. Stay tuned.
