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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

According to the S&P Global Market Intelligence report, Q1 2023 finished with three pending globally announced M&A big deals, each with a value of at least $10 billion, after two such transactions were announced in March.

Since the start of 2018, only the 2022 third quarter had fewer $10 billion-plus deals, at two. While M&A activity remains slow, March produced the largest transaction since May 2022 with Pfizer Inc.'s $42.84 billion announced deal for Seagen Inc., a biotechnology company that develops therapies for treating cancer, the report said.

Meanwhile, the deal between Pfizer and Seagen - two US-based companies - is expected to face antitrust scrutiny, which has been a point of emphasis for President Joe Biden's administration. Still, Pfizer expects the deal to close by late 2023, or early 2024.

"Our technologies and approaches to fighting cancer are really complementary," the report quoted Douglas Lankler, Pfizer general counsel, as saying. "And we think that regulators are going to be able to see the pro-patient, pro-competitive benefit," he added.

In the meantime, the healthcare space is no stranger to large M&A, but the sector has not been immune to the slowdown in deal activity. Since the start of 2022, five global healthcare deals have topped $10 billion in valuation, compared to nine in 2021 alone.

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