May round-up of pharmaceutical & biotech M&A activity

This was a month that will likely be remembered as when Takeda and Shire shook hands on a $62 billion deal for the Japanese drugmaker to take over the rare diseases specialist.

If the deal goes through — and there are still a few obstacles to be overcome Takeda shareholders will own around 50% of the combined group.

There were also a couple of other acquisitions worth more than $1 billion, with two big pharma players adding to their assets in the immuno-oncology space and a merger creating the leading player in the Australian generics market.

The table below details the deals announced.

Company	Takeover candidate	Value	Why?
Janssen	BeneVir	$1.04 billion	To add BeneVir’s oncolytic immunotherapy platform to Janssen’s immuno-oncology efforts
Takeda	Shire	$62 billion	To create a combined group that is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader — provided the deal goes through
Strides Arcolab (Arrow)	Apotex	Share swap giving Strides the controlling interest	To create the leading player in the Australian generics market
Eli Lilly	ARMO BioSciences	$1.6 billion	To bolster Lilly’s immuno-oncology program
TapImmune	Marker Therapeutics	A merger-of-equals under which the stockholders of TapImmune and Marker will each own around 50% of the combined company	To add to TapImmune’s pipeline a synergistic portfolio of highly-differentiated T-cell therapies that has demonstrated impressive results in early trials
Fujifilm Holdings	Remaining stake in Toyama Chemical	Reportedly $549 million to $640 million	To strengthen Fujifilm’s health care arm, offering an alternative revenue stream to the struggling mainstay office equipment business
Shanghai Pharmaceutical Holding and a fund managed by SFund International Investment Fund Management	Takeda’s 51.34% stake in Guangdong Techpool Bio-Pharma	Approximately $280 million	A divestment to allow Takeda greater focus on its key areas of focus