Futurology: Are Mega Mergers A Thing Of The Past?

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 with different cancers, at different stages and with different mutations makes it difficult to envisage any one of the big pharma businesses currently at the forefront of IO emerging in the near term as unassailably dominant, or conversely any of the contenders imminently being driven right out of the space. With so much data yet to read out, would BMS or AstraZeneca's shareholders really be ready to hand over to Pfizer