The number of deals announced in the global healthcare sector (including pharmaceuticals and medical equipment) declined by 10.1% during the week ended May 31, 2020 compared to the previous week, according to GlobalData’s deals database.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Though the healthcare sector has been relatively resilient compared to other sectors amid the uncertainty and volatile market conditions due to the COVID-19 outbreak, deal activity in the sector has been inconsistent during the last few weeks. The decline in deal activity during this week comes after growth during the previous week.”

Deal activity has also remained inconsistent across geographies since the COVID-19 outbreak. While deal activity decreased in key markets such as the US and the UK during the week ended May 31, 2020 compared to the previous week, China and Canada witnessed growth.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), equity offerings, venture financing and licensing agreement deals volume decreased by 17.6%, 27.3%, 8.8% and 15.4%, respectively, during the week ended May 31, 2020 compared to the previous week, while the number of debt offerings and partnership deals increased by 12.5% and 22.2% and private equity deal volume remained at the same level.