Merger and acquisition transactions play a central role in the life sciences sector and are the catalyst for growth and transformation, driving innovation from the laboratory all the way to the patient. As I discussed in my August 2016 article, "Where the Bodies Lie" (Nature Biotechnology, 34, 909–911), life sciences companies often fall victim to recurring misconceptions that lead to unnecessary failure.
These failures often hinge upon management’s misunderstanding of the fundamentals of market and transactional dynamics. In particular, cognitive biases play...