The report highlights that among the major deals reported during the period was Gilead’s acquisition of Forty Seven at nearly $5 billion. Another major deal was the merger of Qiagen and Thermo Fisher Scientific, valued at $11.8 billion.
In terms of M&A activity, the researchers say that Q1 2020 saw a total of 19 transactions, increasing to 22 in Q2 2020. However, Q2 deal values in the pharmaceutical subsector were worth $3.3 billion, the lowest they have ever been since Q1 2018.
The report also reveals that big and medium-cap companies in pharma finished H1 with stocks up a cumulative $190 billion.
For the healthcare industry as a whole, the report says that H2 2020 got off to a strong start with 13 M&A deals valued at $1 billion or higher. The top deal of the year was Gilead’s acquisition of Immunomedics, valued at $19.92 billion, announced in mid-September.
The researchers say that according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), there was a significant drop in M&A deal activity and value in both pharma and life sciences during H1 2020 compared to H2 2019. H1 2019 saw a total of 119 M&A deals in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sector which were valued at $272.9 billion. On the other hand, there were 129 deals in H2 2019 valued at $85.6 billion.
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