A Look Back At 2010: In Search Of New Biopharma Models

The dealmaking trends of 2010 solidified patterns that first surfaced in 2009 (minus the megamergers): risk-sharing deal structures, an emphasis on diversification and emerging markets, and earlier access to new products and technologies. CVRs became a household acronym and – as Sanofi' continued attempts to buy Genzyme Corp. clearly demonstrate – have moved well beyond acquisitions of private biotechs. Options were once again de rigueur. [See Deal] Aside from the increased familiarity with an important deal structure was greater awareness of reimbursement issues and a renewed emphasis on the kinds of innovation that can find lower tier formulary placement. Perhaps as a direct extension of that awareness, companies continued to emphasize their ambitions to focus on unmet medical need – in some cases drawing industry's largest companies to build up presence in niche or rare diseases that had previously been attractive markets only to small biotechs.

The passage of health care reform in the US in the form of the Affordable Care Act – setting aside for the moment the possible legal challenges to that law and the stated goal of the Republican party to overwrite or repeal the legislation – as well as the specter of price controls in Europe directed attention to emerging market deals. Stacks of un-repatriated overseas cash didn't hurt either