Deal-Making Volume Slowed In 2023

By Maureen Riordan, Principal Analyst, Deals Intelligence; and Deanna Kamienski, Principal Analyst, Deals Intelligence

In 2023, the biopharma industry reached a total potential deal value (PDV) of $186.9 billion across 718 alliances. Although the number of alliances decreased significantly, the overall value was $10 billion higher than in 2022. Oncology remained the most active therapeutic area, with a focus on antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) driving many deals.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) volumes also declined slightly by 7% from the previous year, totaling 135 deals valued at $158.2 billion. However, the total deal value saw a substantial increase of 83% compared to 2022, largely due to 27 deals each valued at a billion dollars or more, including four exceeding $10 billion. Acquisitions of ADC-focused companies were also notable in 2023.

Biopharma financing brought in $74.2 billion, showing a slight decline in the number of transactions (936 compared to 960 in 2022), but the total value exceeded 2022’s $66.6 billion by 11%, with the average deal value increasing by 14%.

In the medtech industry, both the total dollars and deal volume declined in 2023 ($8.9 billion for 300 deals versus $13 billion for 356 deals in 2022). M&A activity was robust, with seven separate billion-dollar-plus acquisitions, although the total M&A spend decreased to $26.5 billion from 80 deals, down from $34.3 billion from 92 deals in 2022.

This report provides an overview of alliance, merger and acquisition, and financing deal activities across the global biopharma, medical device, and in vitro diagnostics industries in 2023, as reported by Biomedtracker. The data is categorized by deal types, therapeutic areas, and payment or financing structures. The top deals by dollar value in each sector are highlighted. PDV is defined as the sum of disclosed up-front payments plus any announced or received pre- or post-commercialization milestone payments.