“The impending wave of patent expirations at global pharmaceutical companies will spur mergers and acquisitions (M&A).”

At the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPMHC), being held in San Francisco, USA, on the 12th (local time), Jeremy Melman, JP Morgan’s Global Head of Healthcare Investment (photo), who opened the event with a keynote speech, forecast that favorable conditions for M&A will prevail in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry this year.

Johnson & Johnson’s autoimmune disease treatment “Stelara” and Amgen’s osteoporosis treatment “Prolia” saw their patents expire last year, and full-scale competition with biosimilars (biological drug generics) will begin this year. The patent for “Keytruda,” the immune-oncology drug from Merck & Co. (MSD) that ranks first in sales among single drugs, will also expire in the United States in 2028.

As patents for blockbuster drugs expire one after another, global pharmaceutical companies began in earnest last year to acquire promising biotech firms or technologies to secure new revenue sources. On the first day of the JPMHC event, the 12th, AbbVie signed a contract worth up to USD 4.95 billion (about KRW 7.3 trillion) to in-license the immuno-oncology drug candidate “RC148” from Chinese biotech company Remegen. On the same day, Novartis agreed to introduce, for USD 1.7 billion (about KRW 2.5 trillion), a technology from Chinese biotech company SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals that delivers brain disease treatments to the brain. Melman stated, “The momentum in (M&A and technology in-licensing) is continuing this year,” adding, “It was the most active first week of January in the past decade.”

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