What's going on?

Biotech giant Amgen announced on Monday that it�s buying drugmaker Horizon Therapeutics in a deal worth almost $30 billion.

What does this mean?

Amgen just made a big move. The firm announced it�s buying Horizon for a staggering $26 billion, its biggest-ever deal, in a splurge that comes hot on the heels of the near $4 billion acquisition of ChemoCentryx earlier this year. No wonder it�s making moves: stiff competition and an upcoming patent expiry have hit Amgen�s top-selling arthritis drug for four straight quarters, and this acquisition will help the firm replenish its offerings with a crop of popular approved drugs. Case in point: the deal will see Amgen bulk up its portfolio with the eye disease treatment Tepezza, a drug that�s already a tidy money-maker.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Pharma feeding time.
Horizon�s shares were down 27% earlier this year, which is probably a key reason that other pharma companies, including Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson, started sizing the firm up in the first place. No surprise: the biotech sector entered its biggest selloff since the early 2000s this year, and that led analysts to predict that drugmakers with deep pockets would snap up rivals and replenish their product pipelines. And they weren’t far off: other standout deals include Johnson & Johnson’s $17 billion acquisition of Abiomed last month and Pfizer’s $12 billion purchase of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals in May.

The bigger picture: Festive shopping spree.
This week�s been a busy one for dealmakers, with firms rushing to get contracts signed and initialed before the holiday season kicks into gear. So far, Thoma Bravo�s announced an $8 billion takeover of spending-management platform Coupa, Novozymes has said it�s buying fellow enzyme-maker Chr. Hansen for around $12 billion, and Microsoft�s bitten off a $2 billion chunk of the London Stock Exchange. That�s a fat $70 billion in deals this week alone � not bad considering overall dealmaking�s down by a third this year (tweet this).