M&A in the drug world might be stalled, with Example No. 1 being Roche Holding AG's $44 billion bid for Genentech Inc., but the year is ending with a burst of licensing activity.

The week before Christmas, we reported in The Deal (subscription required) at least six deals that saw more than $100 million immediately change hands, led by Pfizer Inc.'s $75 million upfront splurge for European rights to a drug that corrects Peyronie's Disease.

The rush to buy before 2009 begins has continued. Including Tuesday, Dec. 30, we count four more major license deals and $167.5 million more in upfront dollars. If all possible future payments of these four deals were paid - about as likely as everyone from your high school basketball team turning pro - we'd see more than $3 billion change hands over a decade or more.

That's why licensing is so popular these days. As big pharma downsizes, it still needs new products in its pipeline. So it's willing to pay smaller amounts for partial stakes in a wide portfolio of drugs. Here's a rundown of the latest deals:

•  Revealed Tuesday, Dec. 30 in a regulatory filing: Roche pays Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. $25 million upfront to do the groundwork on treatments for inflammatory diseases. The money will help fund two years of research at Synta, and Roche can claim worldwide rights on selected compounds with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in milestone payments.
• Announced Tuesday, Dec. 23: GlaxoSmithKline plc pays Archemix Corp. $27.5 million upfront to kick-start a broad R&D partnership in inflammatory disease that could pay more than $1 billion if Glaxo eventually takes seven drugs from Archemix's lab to market. Of the upfront cash, $6.5 million is an equity investment.
• Announced Monday, Dec. 22: Forest Laboratories Inc. pays Pierre Fabre Medicament $75 million upfront for U.S. and Canadian rights to a depression treatment that should enter Phase 3 testing in 2009. Milestone payments weren't disclosed. 
• Announced Friday, Dec. 19: AstraZeneca plc pays MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. $40 million upfront for most rights to a pediatric asthma drug currently in Phase 3 testing. Additional milestones could bring the total to $900 million. - Alex Lash

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