As change accelerated across all sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic, Life Sciences may have been the most transformed. Digitization has ramped up significantly and regulatory timelines and approaches have been forced to adapt, leading to renewed considerations as to whether these changes should be permanent. Segments such as Telehealth have seen explosions in demand, and supply chains, labs and manufacturers have had to grapple with unexpected complexities.

Dealmaking in Life Sciences has been remarkably robust as a result. Although deal value is still down from the levels observed in 2019 and 2020, global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) volume has remained strong at 699 completed transactions for an aggregate of USD 224 billion. Large mergers between massive incumbents helped push 2019 to record levels, which will make 2021 deal-value tallies even more striking. In addition, despite the additional logistical and operational hurdles introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic, dealmaking volume has remained steady, even amid geopolitical uncertainty. Corporate development teams and investment funds have been quick to identify the needs for their businesses underlined by the effects of the pandemic, thereby strengthening the case for absorption of other smaller businesses to build scale; for acquisition of additional product lines, intellectual property and talent; or for expansion into new markets. As likely expected in the context of the pandemic, executives have been aggressively expanding investments in digital transformation and customer engagement to generate prospects for longerterm growth and value creation, especially as many saw profitability decline due to COVID-19.

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