The volume of med-tech deals and M&As in 2020 reached impressive levels, well above 2019, primarily due to the demands of a global pandemic, although the disclosed values of those alliances fell dramatically short. Even so, the spotlight that shined on digital health and diagnostics throughout the challenging year has potentially set up the med-tech industry for an influx of attention going forward.

With several deals and M&As falling within the highest values on record, 2020 turned out to be a solid year for the biopharma industry. Expectations are optimistic moving into 2021, when the U.S. will welcome a new president and its citizens should reach herd immunity from COVID-19.

The attention the COVID-19 pandemic drew to the biopharma industry, the ease and convenience of virtual meetings, as well as massive amounts of available capital, all led to an extraordinary year for financings in 2020. The momentum appears to be continuing, particularly with venture capital rounds.

When uncertainty strikes, survival instincts flourish. That is exactly how the biopharma industry weathered 2020 and the global spread of the devastating SARS-CoV-2 virus. “The theme for 2020 was, ‘If the capital is there, take it. It’s an uncertain future’,” said Gabriel Cavazos, managing director in investment banking at SVB Leerink.

Relief spread across the world in December when the first two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines received emergency use approvals, although that deep sigh was short-lived as a highly-transmissible SARS-COV-2 mutation began to make its rounds, highlighting the need for continued research to strengthen the arsenal.

The amount of money flowing into the biopharma industry via grants and collaborations with nonprofit and government entities is a 272% increase over last year, with efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic accounting for 84% of the total for 2020.

With record financings and now record deals in 2020, as well as a respectable value accumulated through completed mergers and acquisitions, the biopharma industry has managed to circumvent a crippling economic slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although FDA approvals in 2020 are falling just shy of records, the amount of regulatory news this year is more than twice the amount seen only four years ago and a 41% increase over that reported in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic accounts for roughly 14% of the total, but regardless, by all accounts, 2020 has been an excessively busy year for both the biopharma industry and regulatory agencies.

Nothing much has changed since last month. This year is still, by far, the best year for financings in biopharma history, although the gap between 2020 and the next highest year has widened even more.

With a $39 billion offer in hand, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is the target of what could be the third largest takeover to date of a pure play biotech company. At a 45% premium, the proposed transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, is largely applauded by analysts who point to three years of languishing stock prices despite the promise of the Boston-based company’s C5 complement franchise and a sturdy pipeline.