Drugmakers rack up $1B in small deals

Drugmakers may be focusing on smaller deals this year, rather than the megamergers of 2009, but those smaller buys do add up.

Drugmakers may be focusing on smaller deals this year, rather than the megamergers of 2009, but those smaller buys do add up. In fact, over the past 24 hours, three drug-company buyouts were announced, together amounting to $1 billion.

The biggest purchase was made by Sanofi-Aventis, which snapped up a Chinese consumer-drugs operations for $520 million. The buyout of BMP Sunstone will extend the French drugmaker's reach in China, which is among the fastest-growing drug markets in the world and the second-largest consumer health market. The deal further beefs up Sanofi's consumer products business, adding on to the company's other consumer buyouts such as its $1.9 billion deal for Chattem earlier this year.

Next in line is Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' deal for Merck KGaA's women's health unit Theramex. The $367.8 million buyout will help Teva "accelerate the expansion of our women's health franchise into key growth markets in Europe," CEO Shlomo Yanai said in a