Nanotechnology to play an increasing role in Nanomedicine.

Pain management continues to face the dual hurdles of abuse of the most efficacious (opiod based) therapies and the difficulties of developing and commercialising new treatments.

Policy-driven changes in healthcare spending and the growing significance of generic competition are acting in tandem to force pharmaceutical companies to adopt more cost-effective manufacturing strategies resulting in an upsurge in the level of M&A activity in the industry as drugmakers consolidate to reduce costs, diversify product portfolios and expand geographic footprints.

In deal-making, options have long been considered a useful vehicle to carry uncertainty through to a point of resolution, or at least to a position of more understandable risk. Many very early stage players prefer the use of options to allow partners an opportunity to uncover value rather than undersell or worse allow good potential to gather dust for lack of resource. Would-be licensees see options as a lower risk / lower cost way of securing assets, seeing the risk reward balance falling in favour of watchful waiting. The pharmaceutical pipeline is a risky environment.