Mid Pharma Companies Show Strength In Dealmaking

The mid pharma peer set – defined by Datamonitor Healthcare (DMHC) as companies with less than $10 billion in annual revenue, excluding biotechs, generics companies, and Japanese pharmaceutical companies – brings just as much power to the dealmaking table as its big pharma counterpart. As a group, mid pharma companies boast efficiency in R&D that surpasses that of big pharma and other groups, thanks in part to a handful of very strong drug launches over the past several years that includes Gilead Sciences Inc.’s multi-billion-dollar hepatitis C franchise. (Also see "Pharma R&D Efficiency: Mid-Sized Companies Excel" - In Vivo, 29 August, 2016.) The mid pharma peer set still relies on business development for growth, with nearly all of the companies having evolved their biopharmaceutical businesses through acquisition. Over a nearly six-year timeframe from Q1 2011 through Q3 2016, mid pharma companies signed partnerships worth $10 billion in up-front licensing value, according to Informa's Medtrack and Strategic Transactions. (See Exhibit 1.) Among therapeutic categories, oncology held the top spot in alliance volume.

According to DMHC's new report Mid Pharma Licensing and M&A Trends, 2011-2016, mid pharma companies did a total...