Talks about mergers and acquisitions are making rounds in the pharmaceutical sector, with moneyed drug giants on the lookout for probable deals!

The insipid sales channels and foreseeable patent cessation for their blockbuster drugs have forced the big companies to prowl for deals that could help them in both plugging the revenue gaps as well as giving their pipelines a much-needed lift.

Irving Levin Associates, a healthcare research and publishing firm, said that, for 2008 on the whole, 523 M&A - merger and acquisition - deals were announced by the health care technology section, including e-Health, Biotechnology, Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals.

It is quite likely that this year reports some comprehensive deals in the pharmaceutical sector. With the ongoing recession, the market for initial public stock offerings is drab, thereby making appraisals of prospective takeover targets extremely catchy for the big buyers.

Recently, in probably the third largest pharma deals, drug giant Pfizer announced its plans of a $68 billion acquisition deal for Wyeth.

Roche Holding AG, the Swiss pharma company, which already owns a majority controlling stake of 55.8 percent in Genentech, has been trying to acquire the remaining stake of the company. In July 2008, Roche had tabled its offer of $89 per share, a total of roughly $43.7 billion in cash.

Franz Humer, chairman Roche, said in an interview: "I am very confident that we will be successful in taking 100 percent of Genentech."