For Sanofi, snapping up Biogen spinout Bioverativ for $11.6 billion bolstered its rare disease franchise by adding hemophilia drugs Eloctate and Alprolix. But for a Swiss man, catching an early whiff of the deal has allegedly brought some illegal gains—and now, a civil and a criminal case in the U.S.
After an unusually slow 2017, deal-making in Big Pharma roared back to life in the first half of this year, with $100 billion spent on mergers and acquisitions so far. And with such names as Johnson & Johnson and Allergan mulling both acquisitions and selloffs of some of their core assets, it’s likely the M&A boom will continue through 2018.
For many biotech companies, mergers and acquisitions have become a cornerstone in building a robust pipeline that can ensure positive growth for years to come. Although 2017 was slow for M&A activity, analysts have predicted 2018 could be a return to a spending frenzy.