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1

How Scott Bessent used financial engineering to finance the $2 trillion deficit while leaving it untouched—and created a $1.45 trillion shortfall

2

Meet the 33-year-old CEO betting on boomers chasing their grandkids—and millennials selling their first house

3

The tables have turned: Florida and Texas are the biggest losers in the housing market as Ohio emerges a surprise winner
HealthFortune Crystal Ball

Prediction: Healthcare’s M&A Flood Will Ebb in 2016

By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
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By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
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November 23, 2015, 10:10 AM ET
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The staff of Fortune recently assembled its predictions for 2016. Here’s one of our forecasts.

Pharma and biotech stocks swooned recently (the S&P Pharmaceuticals Select Industry Index is down 25% in the last three months), largely on concerns about greater drug price regulation. As the stocks fell, experts also observed that the sector’s frenzied M&A wave took a breather. After all, the currency fueling much of the deal-making—those companies’ inflated equity valuations—is now depressed, and acquisition targets may prefer to hold out for a higher price. While the Pfizer-Allergan merger would push the 2015 healthcare M&A total to new heights, it may also be this cycle’s last hurrah. Expect a slowdown in pharma deals in 2016.

This article is part of the 2016 Fortune Crystal Ball, a package of 33 predictions about business, politics and the economy by the writers and editors of Fortune. To see the entire package, click here.

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