Deals in Depth: December 2009
Executive Summary
Astellas will be developing Ambit's FLT3 kinase blockers in the month's largest deal at $390 million. Sanofi-Aventis' move into the US OTC market was evident in its acquisition of Chattem for $2.1 billion. In one of the five biggest medical device acquisitions of 2009, Ethicon bought sinus surgical device company Acclarent for $785 million. Financing for biopharma companies increased dramatically to over $2 billion, most of which came from three $400 million-plus FOPOs. Device fundraising was down slightly in December, although diabetes management firm Intuity Medical impressed with its $64 million Series D round.