Despite Pfizer/Seagen’s Splash, Deals Are Staying Small

First Half 2023 Deal-Making Infographic

 
• By Joseph Haas
  
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Although late 2022 and early 2023 saw a few large transactions, a look at deal activity in the first half of the year shows bolt-on M&A remains in vogue for biopharma. Alliances are down from first half 2022.

Year to year comparison
M&A values are up during H1 2023, but skewed by Pfizer/Seagen • Source: Shutterstock

Biopharmaceutical M&A activity started with a bang in 2023, as Pfizer Inc.’s 13 March acquisition of Seagen Inc.  for $43bn was the sector’s largest buyout since a pair of mega-mergers (Bristol Myers Squibb Company/Celgene Corporation and AbbVie Inc./Allergan plc) in 2019. That deal, combined with Merck & Co., Inc.’s $10.8bn deal for Prometheus Biosciences, Inc on 16 April and on the heels of Amgen, Inc.’s $27.8bn acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc announced in December 2022, raised hopes that the industry might see more major transactions. But a look at deal statistics for the first half shows that big pharma by and large remains committed to smaller acquisitions.

The cluster of mega-deals drove up aggregate spending on biopharma M&A, which more than doubled the total spend in the...

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