Biotech inspired $295B in M&A deals over the last decade

Anyone who doubts just how obsessed biotech companies can be when it comes to deal-making should take a close look at a new report on all the wheeling and dealing that goes on around the global drug development business. DealSearchOnline took a look over the past decade of biotech M&A activity and found a cumulative $295 billion in disclosed industry deals--topped off by Roche's ambitious decision to take full ownership of Genentech.

Roche, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Amgen, Eli Lilly & Co. and Genzyme Corporation came out on the top of the list of dealmakers in the biotech industry. The top targets in the business were revenue-generating biotechs. But once they mined the data on 1,170 deals, money-makers proved few and far between.

"In 76 percent of the 25 largest biotechnology mergers and acquisitions announced in the 10-year period ended December 31, 2009," the analysts conclude, "the target is a revenue-producing biotechnology company. However, among all 1,171 biotechnology mergers and acquisitions announced from 2000 to 2009 only about 18 percent of the companies targeted were producing any disclosed revenue at the time of acquisition."

The top three states for the sellers in the business: California, Massachusetts and Maryland. Biggest year: 2008, with 148 deals worth close to $94 billion.

- check out the release for more