It has been an eventful year for the biotech sector with mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and deals showing no signs of slowing down. Moreover, several companies came out with important and highly-awaited pipeline updates especially at the annual meeting of the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
Deal-Making Frenzy Continues
2014 has been one of the most active years where M&As and licensing agreements are concerned. While tax inversion deals were being actively pursued until a few months back, these cross-border deals do not look all that attractive now considering new rules imposed by the Treasury Department.
To make up for thin pipelines and generic competition, pharma companies sitting on huge piles of cash continue to seek suitable acquisition targets. Several important acquisitions were announced/completed this year including those between Roche (RHHBY – Analyst Report)-InterMune, Merck (MRK)-Idenix, Endo (ENDP – Analyst Report)-Auxilium (AUXL – Analyst Report), BioMarin (BMRN – Analyst Report)-Prosensa (RNA) and Merck-Cubist (CBST – Analyst Report).
Licensing agreements and deals including those with opt-in arrangements have also picked up pace with oncology remaining a favorite area. Most of the deals signed with big pharma companies are focused on cancer and immuno-oncology, which has been attracting a lot of interest. Immuno-oncology therapies have the potential to change the treatment paradigm for cancer — they basically use the natural capability of the patient's own immune system to fight the cancer.
According to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, more than 2,000 products are estimated to be in late-stage development at present — oncology therapies make up for about one-fourth of this total.
Ebola – Focused Companies in the Limelight
Meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak, which has been making headlines, has brought quite a few biotech companies like Tekmira (TKMR) and Chimerix (CMRX) into the limelight for their experimental Ebola disease treatments.
