Stock Watch: One Acquisition Does Not Make A Biotech M&A Boom

Pfizer’s Pandemic Success Finally Prompts A Transaction

Another blow-out quarter from Pfizer provided the impetus for an acquisition. But the history of recent commercial-stage biotech transactions and the risky nature of all early-stage companies suggest that the floodgates will not burst open.

Stock Watch Image, Andy Smith
ANDY SMITH OFFERS A LIFE SCIENCE INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE ON BIOPHARMA BUSINES

Despite being the poster child for pharmaceutical companies addressing the pandemic, Pfizer Inc.* saw its stock price lag the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) for the first part of 2021 until its investors could see proof of the sales of its vaccine to prevent COVID-19, Comirnaty. (Also see "Stock Watch: Pfizer Caught Between The Pandemic And The Recovery" - Scrip, 14 February, 2022.) Only after its first quarter of 2021 announcement did Pfizer’s stock price start its rise. It then climbed by about 65% over the year as first Comirnaty sales and then those of its antiviral Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), for the treatment of COVID-19, became incorporated into its investment proposition.

The first quarter of 2022 must have felt like déjà vu as Pfizer’s stock price traded down from the start...

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