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Futurology: Are Mega Mergers A Thing Of The Past?

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Bolt-ons or big-ticket buys? As another year passes without a big pharma mega merger despite industry giants sitting on large cash piles, we consider whether 2018 will bring major upheaval in the industry landscape, and where M&A will be most likely to take place.

Futurology
Cataclysmic mergers look unlikely in pharma • Source: Shutterstock

Will 2018 bring the return of the marquee mega-merger? Rumors of Pfizer Inc. prowling for a large acquisition, with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and (again) AstraZeneca PLC among the presumed targets, continue to circulate, along with questions about how Pfizer sees its future involvement in immuno-oncology and whether it is fully satisfied by its arrangement with Merck KGAA in that space. The coming year will bring further data for all of the IO front-runners and therefore more clarity on the positioning of Bavencio (avelumab), Merck and Pfizer’s programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor that is playing catch-up to programmed cell death protein 1(PD-1)/PD-L1 inhibitors from BMS, Merck & Co. Inc., Roche and AstraZeneca.

Nevertheless, the IO field is fluid and the plurality of emerging data on different agents, in different combinations, in patients...

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