25-plus years of Big Pharma megadeals

In February, Novo Holdings announced one of the largest M&A deals in recent memory with its plans to acquire Catalent, a leading contract drug manufacturer, for a cool $16.5 billion. The deal could accelerate production of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss medications, Ozempic and Wegovy, given skyrocketing demand.

But while the Novo-Catalent deal marks one of the largest recent acquisitions, Big Pharma megadeals, in fact, have shrunk over the decades. Consider Pfizer’s 1999 acquisition of Warner-Lambert for $90.2 billion, which equates to $146 billion today when adjusted for inflation. 1999 also saw the $67 billion union of Astra and Zeneca, which equates to $111.4 billion today. 

It is true, however, that the 2010s did see a trio of big deals, two involving Allergan. This includes Actavis’ acquisition of Allergan in 2015 for $80.6 billion, Takeda’s purchase of Shire plc in 2018 for $69.4 billion and Abbvie’s acquisition of Allergan in 2019 for $66.8 billion — all inflation-adjusted.

See how the deals stack up below — the table further down has year information:

For context, note that in Q1 2024, the cumulative value for M&A deals was $43.5 billion, according to GlobalData. Yet deals worth at least $1 billion are up some 71% compared to the same quarter in 2023.

Trends contributing to the relative resurgence are worries about the Inflation Reduction Act. Big Pharma is increasingly favoring smaller, more targeted acquisitions.

Oncology propelling a significant share of M&A

GlobalData notes that oncology was the top therapy area for M&A deals in Q1 2024, with a total deal value of $29 billion. In addition, companies developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and radiopharmaceuticals attracted high M&A investment, with notable acquisitions such as Johnson & Johnson’s $2 billion purchase of Ambrx Biopharma and AstraZeneca’s $2 billion acquisition of Fusion Pharmaceuticals.

This fierce competition for cancer therapies is nothing new. Bristol-Myers Squibb shelled out $74 billion for Celgene in 2019, largely to capture its powerhouse oncology portfolio, including the blockbuster drug Revlimid. Pfizer followed suit in 2023, dropping $43 billion on Seagen to bolster its ADC arsenal. And the list goes on: AbbVie’s $21 billion move for Pharmacyclics secured Imbruvica for blood cancers, while Gilead Sciences snagged Trodelvy, a promising ADC for triple-negative breast cancer, through its acquisition of Immunomedics for $21 billion.

Rounding up the biggest deals in recent memory

But which deals have made the biggest mark on the industry in recent decades? The table below ranks the biggest mergers of the past 25+ years, revealing the players and the price tags that redefined the pharmaceutical landscape.

	Target	Year	Value ($ billions)	Inflation Adjusted Value ($ billions)
Pfizer	Warner-Lambert	1999	90	146.4
Zeneca	Astra AB	1998	67	111.4
Bristol-Myers Squibb	Celgene	2019	74	90.65
Actavis	Allergan, Inc	2015	70.5	80.6
Takeda Pharmaceutical	Shire plc	2018	64.3	69.4
Abbvie	Allergan plc	2019	63	66.8
Pfizer	Seagen	2023	43	44.25
Hoechst AG	Rhône-Poulenc	1998	43	71.5
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries	Actavis Generics	2016	40.5	53.23
Johnson & Johnson	Actelion	2017	30	38.37
Amgen	Horizon Therapeutics	2023	27.8	28.59
Ciba-Geigy	Sandoz	1996	27	46.6
Monsanto	Pharmacia & Upjohn	1999	26.5	43.1
Actavis	Forest Laboratories	2014	25	33.1
Abbvie	Pharmacyclics	2015	21	28.39
Gilead Sciences	Immunomedics	2020	21	25.43
Sanofi	Genzyme	2011	20.1	28.45

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Filed Under: Drug Discovery and Development, RD
Tagged With: antibody-drug conjugates, blockbuster oncology deals, industry consolidation, oncology drug development, pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions, R&D pipeline, targeted cancer therapies
 

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