Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity lagged in the European biopharmaceutical market in 2014, analysts said.

Healthcare investor HBM Partners presented the figures in its annual biotech M&A report. The $500 million European, VC-backed biotechs generated in upfront fees represents a 50 percent drop on 2013 and a 27 percent decrease compared with the mean of the previous nine years.

The difference in the premiums paid for U.S. and European biopharma companies–calculated as the increase in stock price on the day of the deal–has only been wider once in the past decade. European companies received a 31 percent premium, compared with 56 percent for their U.S. peers. The number and value of European buyouts with upfront fees of at least $100 million were also down from the previous year.

While M&A in the U.S. have increased across multiple metrics over the past few years, the figures for Europe have fluctuated.

Source: FierceBiotech