The past year witnessed only one major acquisition of a Chinese biotech by a major pharma company. However, some established firms such as Hansoh have set a new course for collaboration with much smaller peers by in-licensing preclinical assets.

MD Anderson and the US National Cancer Institute lead the way with a series of recent alliances, highlighted in this special edition of Tech Transfer Roundup focused on oncology.

When the sector worries about regulation it is usually about drug development and registration. But governments also regulate on monopolistic positions in life sciences. Adding to that, national security enforcement is now rising.

During Q2, biopharma merger and acquisition value reached $25.4bn and drew in $27.3bn in potential deal value from alliances. Device company M&A values reached $2.7bn, while in vitro diagnostic firms and research tools players completed M&A activity that totaled $534.3m.