The Pandemic Hurt, But EY Expects More Biopharma Deal-Making In 2021

Life Sciences M&A Was Almost Half Of 2019’s Record

 
• By Joseph Haas
  
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COVID-19 drove down both deal-making and biopharma “firepower” for part of 2020, but the industry began rebounding. This year should see significant bolt-on M&A activity and technology-driven alliances, according to EY.

fire embers
Biopharma companies have ample deal-making "firepower" to deploy in 2021

The pandemic may have deterred biopharma deal-making, particularly large-scale deals, during 2020 but the industry retains significant firepower heading into 2021, a new report from EY says. Issued on 11 January, the first day of the virtual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, EY’s report notes that there was $159bn of life sciences M&A activity last year, down from $306bn in 2019, a record-setting year.

Biopharmaceutical companies only used 12% of their aggregate firepower – defined by EY’s life sciences business development group as capacity...

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