KEY IDEA: It’s become easier to simply purchase a rival drug maker than to pour money into R&D. However, pharma’s worst enemy is its own culture which stymies innovation and rewards sales people who put numbers ahead of patients.
M&A
KEY TAKEAWAY: GlaxoSmithKline’s chief executive has warned that cheap money has increased the risk of companies making “poor choices” in mergers and acquisitions and questioned the “stretched” valuations of recent pharmaceuticals deals. More than $460bn of deals have been struck across the pharma and biotech sectors since the start of last year — the busiest period of M&A on record. So what effect is this going to have on DTC marketing and drug marketing in general? Cuts and more cuts.
POST SUMMARY: Via the Financial Times: In the first three months of 2015, the total value of healthcare deals reached $95.3bn, accounting for 12 per cent of all merger and acquisition activity this year, and a 70 per cent increase on the same period a year ago. Does this mean pharma is throwing in the towel when it comes to innovation?