Pharmaceutical dealmaking hit a peak in 2018

Mergers and acquisitions in the drug industry last year brought one particularly high price tag: Takeda Pharmaceutical’s $59.0 billion acquisition of Shire. But just as interesting was how 2018’s dealmaking reflected a transformation underway among the largest companies, according to new reports by the investment firms HBM Partners and Kurmann Partners. By HBM’s count, the value of M&A in the sector topped $149 billion, nearly double the value in 2017. The average transaction value rose to $853 million last year from $505 million in 2017, more than recouping the drop from $722 million in 2016. Takeda’s Shire purchase was one of three $10 billion-plus deals last year. The others were GlaxoSmithKline’s $13.0 billion buy of Novartis’s stake in an over-the-counter (OTC) drug joint venture and Sanofi’s $11.6 billion acquisition of Bioverativ. In acquiring Shire, Japan’s Takeda seeks to globalize its business and build a bulwark against the impact of patent