The pharmaceutical industry has seen a ton of deals over the past two years -- with $230 billion in M&A activity from the top 10 pharma companies alone since the beginning of 2007. But with plenty of players since on the board, there's likely to be some more hefty spending
through 2010.
Abbott Laboratories' (NYSE:ABT) $6.6 billion deal for Solvany Pharmaceuticals SA and Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) acquisition of an 18% stake in Crucell NV are just the two recent transactions signaling the consolidation in the healthcare space (subscribers can read more about these deals in
The Deal's Pipeline). But there have a slew of other notable transactions this year as well, including:
- The Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)-Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) $68 billion deal
- Merck & Co.'s (NYSE:MRK) $41.1 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE:SGP)
- Abbott Laboratories' $2.8 billion purchase of Advanced Medical Optics Inc., the $410 million acquisition of Evalve Inc., the $400 million buyout of Visiogen Inc. and the $130 acquisition of Wockhardt Ltd.'s nutrition business
- Johnson & Johnson took an 18.4% stake in Irish drug developer Elan Corp. plc for $1 billion and purchased Cougar Biotechnology Inc. for about $970 million
- Warner Chilcott plc (NASDAQ:WCRX) spent $3.1 billion to acquire Procter & Gamble Co.'s (NYSE:PG) prescription drug business
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Japan's largest drugmaker, acquired U.S.-based IDM Pharma Inc. for about $75 million
- Novartis AG's (NYSE:NVS) acquisition of Austria's Ebewe Pharma GmbH for about $1.3 billion.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) took over Medarex Inc., which develops treatments for melanoma and other cancers, for about $2.4 billion in cash
Bristol-Myers is apparently on the hunt for even more acquisitions, according to
Reuters. So what pharma companies are still left to be acquired?
- Crain's says Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN), Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) and Connecticut-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) could be possible targets for Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) and Johnson
& Johnson.
- Vertex Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX), which creates Telaprevir, a hepatitis C (HCV) drug, could be a target for Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, or Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) , according to BusinessWeek.
- Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:SLXP) could be acquired by Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:FRX), according to Corporate Dealmaker.
Surprised not to see GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK) on any of these lists? Well, it's on the sidelines as R&D chief Moncef Slaoui recently
said that deals were too pricey. -
Maria Woehr
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