After a relatively flat start, activity picked up in the second
half of the year with a flurry of sizeable transactions announced
including AbbVie's acquisitions of Cerevel and ImmunoGen,
Bristol Myers Squibb's acquisition of Karuna and Roche's
acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics. 2023 also saw the largest
biopharma deal in recent years with Pfizer completing its US$43
billion acquisition of Seagen. At 1,889, deal volumes globally were
largely flat compared to 2022 (1,893) but overall global deal value
was up over 28% from US$178.1 billion in 2022 to $228 billion.
Big biopharma was the principal driver of activity with
portfolio diversification and top line growth remaining strategic
imperatives, resulting from a mixture of long-standing and
anticipated pressures, including the looming loss of exclusivity on
blockbuster products, continuing pricing pressures and an
increasingly difficult global regulatory landscape for innovators
to navigate.
