Deals in Depth: March 2009

Executive Summary

Our monthly overview of dealmaking in the biopharmaceutical, medical device and in vitro diagnostics industries. March 2009 dealmaking highlights: BMS' worldwide ex-Japanese license to Nissan/Teijin's CV candidate NTC801 topped the alliance list in terms of potential deal value at $210mm. The remaining pharma alliances for March didn't even surpass $50mm in pre-commercial value. In M&As, the Big Pharma mega merger of Merck and Schering-Plough was the biggest news, in a deal valued around $42bn. Pharmaceutical financings were down by about $100mm compared with February, and Early VC rounds made up the majority of the $406mm raised. Funding for device firms, on the other hand, was up from last month to $297mm thanks to a strong showing of late venture financings.