A Brief of Recent Pharma Merger Cases

Novartis will merge Alcon into its fold and become the premiere player in the worldwide eye-health arena.

The Paris-based drugmaker, Sanofi-Aventis, lead the second largest healthcare acquisition of 2010 with its proposed purchase of Genzyme Corp., one of the world’s leading biotech companies. The European Union has recently announced its approval for the proposed $18.5 billion agreement, however, the deal has been held up as Genzyme considers the $69 per share offer as too low. Industry insiders speculate that this deal will soon be worked out.

Product diversification remains a significant growth strategy in the pharma world as demonstrated by 2010’s largest healthcare M&A transaction, Novartis AG’s acquisition of Alcon Inc. For a total of $51.6 billion, No