In recent years, the transactions we have worked on in the outsourced pharma services space have had a growing focus on data. With further advances in technology, analytics and digitisation, we expect this to increase in the coming years.

In the past year, over £9 billion was spent on disclosed transactions globally. In fact, financial investors accounted for 30% of all acquirers of data service businesses in the life science sector in the first 6 months of 2019, the highest level to date. The businesses that enable access to data and facilitate data sharing, will derive meaningful insights and help accelerate drug and medical device development.

The trends covered in this report are the ones we believe will drive M&A in the outsourced services sector.

Key messages:

• Outsourced pharma services firms are reshaping into data businesses through acquisitions.
• The three key disruptive data trends driving M&A in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector by deal volume are: database creation, analytics, and smart trials.
• The outlook for M&A in this industry remains strong, particularly in the deal corridors between the US and Europe.

Read our full report to further explore our findings.