After Q1 was the weakest quarter for global M&A activity in more than two years, the M&A market showed some major signs of life this week when three major pharmaceutical deals were announced on Thursday.

Abbott Laboratories ABT 1.17% announced a $30 billion buyout of St Jude Medical, Inc. STJ 0.65%, AbbVie Inc ABBV 0.5% announced a $5.8 billion bid for Stemcentrx and Sanofi SA (ADR) SNY 1.87% announced a $9.3 billion offer for Medivation Inc MDVN 2.68%.

All together, the three deals totaled more than $45 million in a single day.

The flurry of activity seems to indicate that the M&A market is alive and well after activity dropped in Q1 to multi-year lows.

Last year, global buyers spent a record $3.8 trillion on acquisitions, eclipsing the previous record set back in 2007.

The total value of global M&A deals in Q1 came…

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