| Biopharma M&A got a strong boost in 2019—the three biggest deals alone saw more than $150 billion change hands, while Bristol-Myers’ $74 billion takeover of Celgene broke records as the largest pharma deal ever. But as we move into 2020, will sky-high appetites continue or will companies look to leaner, bolt-on acquisitions? And what will next week’s conversations at JPM bring in San Francisco? Stay tuned. Our top 10 M&A deals from 2019 are below, as well as our top reads of the week. Featured Story | | | Tuesday, January 7, 2020 When AbbVie inked its $63 billion Allergan deal, one fear above all motivated the deal: Biosimilars to megablockbuster Humira, due stateside in 2023. But Allergan's best-selling Botox and other promising drugs may not be enough. What could help? Hiving off assets—or so figures one analyst who's called for Allergan selloffs before. |
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Top Stories Of The Week Monday, January 6, 2020 KRAS and its hope against cancer was one of the biggest talking points in 2019, and it seems this hype is not dying down in 2020. Biopharma M&A got a big boost moneywise in 2019. The three largest delivered more than $150 billion, with Bristol-Myers Squibb's $74 billion takeover of Celgene setting a new record. Oncology was still a hot theme, stringing through a whole year of big dealmaking headlines, just as gene therapy gained popularity. Monday, January 6, 2020 Pfizer and Merck KGaA’s Bavencio has so far lagged significantly behind its PD-1/PD-L1 classmates, in part because of a series of trial failures. This time, though, it’s turned in a win that could give it a leg up in a crowded market. Wednesday, January 8, 2020 As Bristol-Myers Squibb looked to subsume Big Biotech Celgene, its chief scientific officer Thomas Lynch decided to walk. Friday, January 3, 2020 Another testing lab has jumped into the Zantac impurity fray and urged the FDA to recall all ranitidine drugs. Emery Pharma says its testing shows that the level of the suspected carcinogen NDMA can increase if the drug is exposed to high heat, even after it has been packaged. Friday, January 3, 2020 An abnormality in the SOD1 gene is linked to some inherited cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). An international research team led by the University of California San Diego showed in mice that turning off mutated SOD1 with gene-silencing RNA could prevent the onset of the neurodegenerative disorder or block its progression. Monday, January 6, 2020 The 2020 pharma price-hiking club has some new members. Merck & Co., Allergan and Novartis joined several of their multinational peers when they raised prices Friday, Reuters reported. And that raised the January tally to 470 medicines and an average increase of 5.1%, GoodRx numbers show. Friday, January 3, 2020 A phase 3 trial of Incyte’s itacitinib in treatment-naive acute graft-versus-host disease has missed its primary endpoint, wiping around $2 billion off the biotech’s market cap. The failure of the JAK1 inhibitor is another blow to Incyte’s efforts to expand its commercial portfolio beyond Jakafi. Tuesday, January 7, 2020 Merck & Co.’s Keytruda may be the star in non-small cell lung cancer, but a combo of it and chemo just failed to significantly outdo chemo alone at prolonging patients’ lives in small cell lung cancer, a market that one analyst dubbed "one of the largest metastatic market opportunities remaining" for the PD-1 drug. Wednesday, January 8, 2020 Medtronic alerted customers of its Mazor X robotic surgery system of its potential to come loose and detach itself from an operating room table, and possibly fall upon a patient during a spine procedure. Enrollment Showcase | | | Sponsored by: Drexel University Online Drexel University’s online graduate programs in biomedicine, clinical research, drug discovery, and molecular medicine were developed with working professionals in mind, providing you with the education, practical skills, and competitive edge you need to be successful in your career. Learn more. |
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Resources Sponsored by: ICON Clinical Research Ltd The beginning of this digital transformation is well underway and is likely to accelerate. Read our white paper, “Digital Disruption in Biopharma: How Digital Transformation can reverse declining ROI on R&D,” to learn more. Sponsored by: Eli Lilly and Company in partnership with Xcenda Download this complimentary paper that explores the practice of step therapy and its impact on key stakeholders in the US healthcare system. Sponsored by: Amazon Web Services From IoT to data management to high-performance computing and machine learning, leading life sciences organizations are using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop scalable, global, predictable, and secure solutions to modernize clinical trials while mitigating risks Sponsored by: EVERSANA How are your launch strategies can convert “innovation” into value for patients? Sponsored by: Colorcon Learn more: Best practices for defending supply chain security and compliance by efficiently managing product authentication. Sponsored by: Metabolon Small or emerging pharmaceutical and biotech companies pursuing novel molecules and targets have two important goals: achieve clinical success and attract new rounds of funding. While there’s never a guarantee of either, certain actions can influence the outcome in your favor. Sponsored by: Catalent Learn how recent innovations in demand-led supply and direct-to-patient distribution are converging to create a next-generation clinical supply chain that is flexible, lean and most importantly patient-centric. Sponsored by: Altran This whitepaper highlights the challenges of implementing the right digital twin strategy while providing key use cases in the manufacturing domain for which a digital twin is extremely useful and several examples of technology trends that will shape the future. Sponsored by: Clarivate Analytics Get your copy of the Q2 2019 Life Sciences M&A notes and trends to understand the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the life sciences sector which drove 136 new M&A deals and provides a forward look to 2020 activity ahead. Sponsored by: Catalent Pharma Solutions In this Q&A, four Catalent Biologics experts share how scale-up, regulatory expectations, demand forecasting and process validation all play a role in the success of a biologic when embarking upon the commercial manufacturing journey. |
