Takeover Fever Could Hit Drugmakers in 2018

Investing.com - With $30 billion dollars in deals already on the boards, the biotech-pharmaceutical industry is already fulfilling predictions of a big year in mergers and acquisitions.The takeover offers by Sanofi (PA:SASY), Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) and Novo Nordisk (CO:NOVOb) in the first three weeks of January follow a slow 2017 that saw industry M&A activity hit a four year low. The number of deals was down more than 20% from 2016 and 40% from 2015, a record year for U.S. M&A.The big difference between this year and last may be the amount of cash companies will have available for dealmaking. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are expected to bring home some $170 billion dollars in overseas profits, thanks to more favorable terms under the massive tax cut package that became law late last year.With sales growth forecast at a modest 3%, pressure on pricing and an unusually high number of important patents expiring, companies are hungry for growth. Analysts say they'll accomplish that through acquisitions.