M&A in the biotech industry is off to a fast start in 2019. Just this past weekend, Roche announced it is acquiring Spark Therapeutics; Ipsen announced its acquisition of Clementia Pharma; and GE announced a spinoff of its biopharma business to Danaher.

Is this all just coincidence… or are there bigger trends at play? In this a16z hallway-style quick-take on recent news, a16z partners Kouki Harasaki (in bio go-to-market) and Nate Chang (in bio corporate development) chat with a16z operating partner Frank Chen about why all this M&A activity is happening now, and what it means for the bio startup ecosystem overall.

watch time: 21 minutes