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Are you expecting M&A activity to continue (in biotech)? If so, for how long?

From the beginning of this year to the date of this writing, M&A has been sizzling for the Pharma/biotech industry. The most high profile acquisitions include the proposed acquisition of Genentech (NYSE: DNA) by Roche ($44 billion); the $8.8 billion acquisition of Millennium Pharmaceuticals by Japan drug maker Takeda; the proposed acquisition of ImClone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL) by Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) ($4.5 billion) and the acquisition of Pharmion by Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG) ($2.9 billion).

We expect the M&A activity will continue in the remainder of 2008 and beyond because we believe that current market environment in the Pharma/biotech industry is favorable for M&A activity. The big pharmaceutical companies have long been faced with big challenges such as patent expiration for blockbusters, low research and development productivity, and generic competition.

Platform technology and efficient R&D efforts in smaller biotech companies may be part of the solution to the challenges faced by Big Pharma. As long as the challenges still exist in the pharmaceutical industry, the M&A of smaller biotech companies by big Pharma will continue to make sense.

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