16. September 2018

In August, the biotech boom of 2018 continued unabated and the Wall Street Journal reported that investment banks have lured top biotech analysts with guaranteed pay packages of USD 3 million or more. At this time of the year, equity analysts who assess companies and write reports that help investors gauge prospects and interpret news will certainly have their hands full as investments into pharma and biotech companies continue to grow at a rapid pace. Leading the pack in August was US-based...

18. June 2018

As April 2018 breezed past with news of Novartis’ US$ 8.7 billion buyout of AveXis, May set the temperatures soaring with one of the largest pharma acquisitions in recent years. Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical agreed to buy British drugmaker Shire for US$ 62 billion (£45.3 billion) in the biggest pharma M&A deal of the year. In a month that witnessed extensive deal making, Eli Lilly announced its commitment to spend over US$ 2.2 billion to acquire immuno-oncology companies —...

17. May 2018

Insofar as pharma M&As are concerned, 2018 is turning out to be a milestone year with more than US$ 170 billion invested in the first quarter alone. While March saw a steep climb in deal values with the Cigna-Express Scripts US$ 67 billion acquisition, April remained significant for Novartis’ renewed interests in gene therapy — the Swiss pharma giant acquired AveXis, a clinical-stage gene therapy company, for US$ 8.7 billion. Novartis retains focus on gene therapy with US$ 8.7 billion...