Commissioner Chopra says candy maker Nestlé cannot take Allergan’s place in the market and AstraZeneca would get a windfall without paying anything for a valuable drug development project. AbbVie/Allergan must divest enzyme replacement therapies Zenpap and Viokace to Nestlé and investigational IL-23 inhibitor brazikumab to AstraZeneca. 

Public Company Edition: Of five drug developers expected to go public, four have preclinical or early clinical candidates, while the one that could not find a market for its IPO is in Phase III. Also, Biohaven, Zymeworks and Kura raise $100m or more in follow-on offerings.

Pharma and biotech companies raised $4.6bn in the first quarter, exceeding the 2017 quarterly average by $1.4bn. But while the money invested soared, the number of companies funded sank. In public financings, MorphoSys commences US IPO and Mylan sells $1.5bn in notes.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Dealmaking column is a survey of recent health care transactions listed by relevant industry segment – In Vitro Diagnostics, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceuticals – and then categorized by type – Acquisition, Alliance, or Financing. This month’s column covers deals announced in October 2017.