Deal-making Metrics – Quantitative Trends in Partnering Transactions

The life sciences industry has never seen such an intensity of deal-making, especially that of licensing, than in the past six years. Some of the reasons for this are quite evident: growing pharmaceutical companies have greater pipeline needs, a spate of patent expiries threatens future revenues and research and development (R&D) externalisation has become central to the innovation strategies of cash-rich companies. Product licensing has become an efficient tool in commercialising extended numbers of innovative technologies with limited financial risks, as most of the acquisition expenses of the innovation are dependent on development and commercial success.

This article looks at a few of the most important measures to bear in mind prior to designing deal-making strategies that any expert deal-maker executive should know about.