As public markets remain tricky for biotech companies M&A activity in the sector has surged. But will this hyper-activity prevent Europe from producing the European equivalent of Genzyme or Amgen?

A recent article in the London Times newspaper lead with the headline “Hello Dolly, but things aren’t looking swell”. It is true that the European biotech sector continues to face some serious challenges in accessing capital. In addition, there is a feeling that a number of companies, particularly some smaller cap companies listed on AIM, remain undervalued and under-capitalised. However;

companies, both public and private, have increasingly taken advantage of the concern that larger pharmaceutical companies have - that their development pipelines are not sufficiently advanced to replace existing products that they will lose patent protection. This has lead to the completion of a number of high profile M&A and licensing deals. Thegood news is that the sector has seen a number

of exits where Pharma has been willing to part with cash to secure exclusive access to technology either through M&A or partnering transactions. Does biotech face a challenging environment? The answer is yes. Can biotech still succeed in the European market? Yes!