NEW YORK, NY, Jan 18, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- According to a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, analysts are turning "bullish" on the pharmaceutical industry once again. There are 3,000 drugs in development in the U.S. today compared to about 2,000 a decade ago. Many of these medicines target unmet needs like Alzheimer's and stroke, where the advances in care can be substantial. Almost a third target forms of cancer, some of which are poorly treated today, the Journal reports.
2012 is expected to be a big year for M&A activity in the Pharmaceuticals industry. According to a recent article from FiercePharma drugmaker CEOs have been describing their appetites for deals in recent weeks. CEOs from large Pharmaceutical firms such as Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb have expressed interest in deals for as much as $3B this year.
The Pharma Letter recently reported that while there were few multi-billion dollar deals last year, 2011 turned into a "bumper year" for the number of merger and acquisition deals for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and generic drugmakers with a total of 129 M&A announcements recorded.