The Biotech Buying Bonanza: Why The FTC's Amgen Battle Won't The Biotech Buying Bonanza: Why The FTC's Amgen Battle Won't Chill The Spree
ALLISON GATLIN
6/2/2023
[Long article, some excerpts]
Big Pharma has been on a breakneck buying spree for biotech companies. But will it continue? (© Chris Gash)
Big Pharma has a problem, and a plan to solve it. The problem? A looming drug patent cliff that will unleash generic competition on some of the industry's biggest moneymakers. The solution? A breakneck M&A spree for biotech stocks, funded by a massive war chest built on drug companies' success in bringing new medical treatments to market...
As of mid-April, pharma companies had announced $64 billion in biotech mergers and acquisitions this year, with big names like Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) on the list of shoppers. That put biotech on a "blistering" M&A pace in 2023, according to investment bank Torreya, now a Stifel unit...
The macroeconomic environment, politics, drug prices, patent cliffs and regulatory concerns are in constant flux. What doesn't change? Biotech and pharma need each other...
Big Pharma Has Money To Spend On M&As
Meanwhile, Big Pharma's M&A coffers continue to grow. Pharma companies have between $1.4 trillion and $1.5 trillion in cash, experts say...
Also, Torreya's Opler says the immunology and cardio-metabolic segments are hot — the former evidenced by the Prometheus takeover. Oncology is always an area of interest.
Raghav Mittal, assistant director at research firm Acuity Knowledge Partners, said in an email that acquisitions of biotech companies working on oncology or immunology treatments could be worth $5 billion to $25 billion a pop.
https://www.investors.com/news/technology/biotech-stocks-are-in-blistering-ma-climate-ftc-could-change-that/