Pharma M&A Is all about Options

The days of mega-mergers in the pharmaceutical sector aren’t necessarily over, but those deals will be fewer and farther between, going forward. Nearly 60 deals have been announced in 2016 through the middle of May, and just 17 have an entire company as the target. The largest, so far, is Shire’s (NASDAQ: SHPG) $32 billion takeover of Baxalta (NYSE: BXLT), announced in January. The rest are either collaborations on product candidates, rights or license deals for marketed products or clinical-stage candidates, even the rights to royalties. That’s Royalty Pharma’s $1.1 billion deal for the royalty interest in Xtandi, which is being sold by a co-owner, UCLA, where... Read More »