JPM ushers in flurry of biotech deals, headlined by J&J’s Intra-cellular buy

J&J kicked off JPM with an 11-digit neurology takeout that restored some of the buzz to the biotech industry’s traditional opening event of the year, whose recent incarnations had become something of a damp squib as far as headline-grabbing deals go, not to mention flash flood warnings and broken umbrellas.

The $14.6 billion acquisition of Intra-cellular Therapies Inc. (NASDAQ:ITCI) by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) marked the third substantial takeout in neurology in the past 13 months and gives the pharma a growth driver in antipsychotic therapy Caplyta. ...