Healthcare deals hit an all-time record in 2018. See the 7 biggest tie-ups that could change how we buy drugs and treat diseases.
The year's biggest deal? Pharma giant Takeda's $77 billion takeover of international drugmaker Shire. The deal will give Japan's Takeda greater access to the US drug market, and provides it with new prescription products to sell.
The US health insurer Cigna is acquiring Express Scripts in a $68.5 billion transaction. Express Scripts manages prescription drug benefits for health insurers and companies. The deal will help Cigna offer more comprehensive health benefits to its customers and negotiate better deals with drugmakers.
GlaxoSmithKline agreed to buy out rival pharma giant Novartis's 36.5% stake in a consumer health joint venture. The $13 billion deal gives GSK full ownership of the unit, whose products include over-the-counter pills and Sensodyne toothpaste.
Sanofi, based in France, agreed to buy the US biotech Bioverativ in a $10.9 billion transaction. Bioverativ specializes in treatments for hemophilia, and adds to Sanofi's efforts to expand in treatments for blood disorders.
The private equity firm KKR deepened its involvement in the industry by acquiring Envision Healthcare in a $9.5 billion deal. Envision provides physicians to work at hospitals. KKR had previously acquired Envision's ambulance business.
The biotech Celgene acquired Juno, which specializes in treating cancer, in an $8.9 billion deal. Juno makes a type of cancer treatments known as CAR-Ts, which are a new way of fighting the disease using the body's own immune system. Celgene makes other types of cancer drugs, and already had a partnership with Juno.
Swiss healthcare giant Novartis agreed to acquire the US biotech AveXis in an $8.1 billion transaction. AveXis focuses on a new field of treatments known as gene therapy, which is being explored for rare diseases. The key drug it's working on would treat a genetic disease called spinal muscular atrophy.
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