While biopharma deals are very much in line with the early pandemic months of 2020, mergers and acquisitions are telling a different story – one in which values are down by 76%. As of June 22, BioWorld has recorded 956 deals, including licensings, collaborations and joint ventures, valued at $80.2 billion in 2021, as well as 59 completed M&As worth $29.1 billion. In comparison with the same timeframe in 2020, the volume of both deals and M&As is down slightly by about 10 deals each, but the lack of high-value M&As, or mega-mergers worth more than $10 billion, has placed 2021 far behind last year. Deal values, however, are up by 4%.
About a year-and-a-half after the sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the onslaught of COVID-19 therapeutic and vaccine development that followed, the biopharma industry boldly tackles a slew of ongoing issues from vaccine hesitancy and supply inequities to the ramifications of a potential intellectual property waiver and the pressing need to prepare global systems for the next pandemic.
The largest med-tech M&As so far in 2021 have bumped the year’s value well above this point last year, although none come close to the October merger of Teladoc Health Inc. and Livongo Health Inc. for $18.5 billion. Still, 2021 appears on track to exceed 2020’s $38 billion M&A total, with 227 completed M&As already valued at $25 billion, 66% of 2020’s full-year amount.
While phase I-III clinical trial data continue to rise above the same timeframe in 2020, the gap is closing and a smaller percentage of this year’s reports are focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.
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