Pharmaceutical analysis:
Number of acquisitions by region
Interactive visualization mapping of 1,489 pharmaceutical acquisitions by region and country with dynamic filtering and axis selection including region, country, number of acquisitions and the average price.
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Understanding the chart
This visualization displays pharmaceutical acquisitions across global markets. The scatter plot shows the relationship between the number of acquisitions (X-axis) and the average acquisition price (Y-axis). Each colored badge represents either a geographic region or an individual country, depending on your selected view.
Click on any badge to see detailed information including total acquisitions, average price, and total deal value. Use the filters to switch between regional and country views, or filter by specific regions to explore market dynamics.
Interpreting the data
X-axis (Acquisition Count): The total number of pharmaceutical acquisitions made by companies headquartered in that region or country.
Y-axis (Average Price USD): The mean acquisition price for deals with disclosed values. Uses a logarithmic scale to accommodate the wide range of deal sizes.
Badge colors: Each region/country is assigned a distinct color from a custom palette for easy visual identification.
Where is the global heat map of pharma M&A?
This chart is essentially a global heat map of pharma M&A, showing where acquisition activity is concentrated and how expensive targets are, by geography.
The underlying dataset covers 1,489 pharma acquisitions, of which prices are disclosed for ~440 deals, totalling around $660B in value.
What we found (and what the graph shows)
1. North America dominates both deal volume and value
- North America accounts for ~57% of all acquisitions (850 deals) and around $405B in disclosed deal value.
- Its average deal size is very high: roughly $1.8B per priced deal.
- At the country level, the United States completely anchors this cluster, with 748 acquisitions, about $402B in disclosed deal value and an average deal size just over $2.0B.
Interpretation: For large-scale pharma M&A, the US is the primary hunting ground, with the bulk of big-ticket transactions.
2. Europe is the clear second hub with several premium micro-clusters
Europe represents ~28% of acquisitions (413 deals) and about $175B in disclosed deal value, with an average deal size of ~$1.4B.
Within Europe, several countries form distinct “premium” bubbles:
- United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium
- These countries combine moderate deal volumes with very high average prices (often in the $1.5B–$4B range for priced deals).
Germany adds solid volume with mid-to-high nine-figure average deal sizes.
Interpretation: European markets are fewer in total deals than the US but rich in high-value transactions, especially in a handful of mature pharma hubs.
3. Asia is an emerging third pillar with a few very large bets
Asia accounts for ~12% of acquisitions (182 deals) and around $78B in disclosed deal value, with an average deal size of about $1.0B.
The region is not uniform:
- India stands out with 59 deals and a very high average deal size (~$2.0B) and >$60B in total disclosed value.
- Japan and South Korea have smaller deal counts but solid mid-hundred-million averages.
- China shows a reasonable number of deals (45) but much lower average prices, closer to the tens-of-millions band.
Interpretation: Asia is an increasingly important M&A region, driven by a mix of large strategic bets (India, Japan, Korea) and smaller-ticket transactions (China).
4. “Rest of world” deals are sparse and generally much smaller
The “Other” region includes markets like Australia, Brazil, parts of Latin America, Africa, and smaller European/non-OECD states.
It only accounts for 40 acquisitions (~3% of total) and ~$0.3B in disclosed deal value.
Average deal sizes are dramatically lower (tens of millions rather than billions), with many countries showing activity but no disclosed prices.
Interpretation: Outside North America, Europe, and major Asian markets, pharma M&A is relatively niche and lower value, at least in disclosed terms.
5. Country-level patterns show that “number of deals” ≠ “typical deal size”
High-volume, high-value markets:
- USA, India, UK, Switzerland, France
- Many deals and average deal sizes in the $1B+ range.
High-volume, lower-value markets:
- Canada and China have significant numbers of acquisitions but much lower average prices, closer to the $100M or sub-$100M band.
Low-volume, ultra-premium markets:
- Countries like Ireland, Denmark, Belgium have fewer deals but very large average deal sizes (Ireland’s priced deals average over $4B).
Interpretation: Deal count alone is a misleading proxy for strategic or financial importance as some smaller markets punch far above their weight in average deal size.
The emerging theme
Across all 1,489 pharma acquisitions analyzed, the chart shows that:
- Pharma M&A is highly geographically concentrated in North America and Western Europe, with Asia as a strong third cluster.
- Large, billion-dollar transactions are disproportionately found in a few core countries (USA, UK, France, Switzerland, India, etc.).
- Deal volume and deal size do not always move together: some markets specialize in many smaller transactions, others in fewer but very large strategic plays.
The TLDR (for the busy leaders)
- Pharma M&A is heavily concentrated in North America and Western Europe, with Asia emerging as a strong third hub.
- The US overwhelmingly dominates in both the number of deals and total disclosed deal value, anchoring the global market.
- Europe hosts several “premium” M&A hubs (UK, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Ireland) with fewer but very high-value transactions.
- Asia is mixed: India, Japan, and South Korea see large strategic bets, while China shows more, smaller-ticket deals.
- Deal volume and average deal size often diverge, some countries do many small acquisitions, others do few but multi-billion-dollar ones.
- Outside these core regions, pharma M&A is sparse and lower value, with many markets showing activity but limited or no disclosed pricing.
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