Spending on healthcare deals in the month of October didn’t match the surge in deal volume (see separate post). At $9.4 billion, October 2018 posted a slight 4% gain over September, but was 25% lower than the $12.6 billion spent in October 2017. Of course, we can only go by disclosed prices, and several transactions […]
With little fanfare, Swiss drug maker Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) bagged Endocyte, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECYT) for $2.1 billion, or $24.00 per share. The price represents a 54% premium to Endocyte’s closing price on October 17, 2018, the day before this deal was announced. Endocyte, a biopharmaceutical company based in Indiana, develops targeted therapies for the […]
It’s been a busy summer for Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS). The Swiss drug-maker has sold off a few assets, one at a loss. On August 31, Mylan NV (NYSE: MYL) acknowledged that it paid $463 million for Novartis’ cystic fibrosis products. Novartis sold the worldwide rights to commercialize its cystic fibrosis products TOBI Podhaler (tobramycin inhalation powder) […]
Ever wonder why February is the shortest month of the year? It didn’t even exist on the old Roman calendar, when there were only 10 months in a year. Later, the calendar was revised to include 12 lunar cycles totaling 355 days and January and February were added, with February as the last month of […]
The dam broke in the fourth quarter of 2017, and pharmaceutical deal makers began acquiring again. The Republican tax overhaul that lowered the tax rate for corporations’ repatriated cash was approved in December, spurring big drug companies to think about mergers and acquisitions once again. Deal volume in the fourth quarter shot up 100% over […]
After a few months of slow going, healthcare deal volume revved up in October. Although it’s the start of the typically busy fourth quarter, we’ve learned not to expect past performance to indicate future results. Preliminary data shows 130 transactions were announced, up 9% compared with the 119 deals announced in both September 2017 and […]
Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) has spent most of 2017 buying up licenses to preclinical candidates. In the first 10 months of this year, it spent approximately $225 million in disclosed upfront payments. But the Swiss drugmaker just spent $3.9 billion for a more established drug product targeting neuroendocrine tumors.
Drug companies and managed care organizations are working to keep prices from rising precipitously. Then there’s Pfizer.
Cerulean Pharma has sold off certain assets and is changing its focus from oncology to women’s health.
The pharmaceutical industry has largely given up on in-house research and development, saying that the R&D timeline is too costly, long and uncertain to fund with shareholders’ money. The industry has gone from bolt-on acquisitions of smaller companies with marketed products to battling it out for clinical-stage drug candidates. What’s surprised some industry observers is […]
