Big drugmakers focus on smaller deals for biotech companies, WSJ reports

After years of making mutli-billion dollar deals for single biotech companies, pharmaceutical giants such as AbbVie (ABBV), AstraZeneca (AZN), and Merck (MRK) have shifted to smaller targets costing $5B or less, Jared Hopkins and Laura Cooper of The Wall Street Journal reports. According to executives, bankers, and lawyers, the reason for this shift is because smaller deals are easier to do in the current regulatory environment and the sector is looking rather picked over.