Sanofi/Genzyme: Something for everyone: publicly traded earnouts, rare diseases, diversity, and one heck of a long, drawn out negotiation over price. Oh yeah, $20 billion for an industry trailblazer. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Endo/AMS: Every good company constantly evolves, but only a few complete radical makeovers as rapidly as Endo has. The acquisition of AMS really cements Endo's transition from drug co to 'pelvic health' company, drugs, devices, services and all. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Daiichi/Plexxikon: An extremely solid exit driven by a well executed partnering strategy on one of the year's most watched and important drugs. There aren't too many 12x deals out there. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Takeda/Nycomed: This $13.7 billion acquisition gives Takeda sought-for diversity by moving it further into OTC, branded generics and emerging markets. Nycomed's PE investor base had long aimed for an exit -- via sale or more recently rumored IPO. This is a tidy one indeed. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Abbott/Abbott Pharma: Is it really M&A? Who cares. Diversified Abbott has jettisoned its Humira-dominated pharma business in a spin out with roughly $18 billion in revenue. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Gilead/Pharmasset: When $14 billion speaks, people listen. Pharmasset's record-setting sale to Gilead put a smile on the face of the biotech's investors that could be seen from space. It was by a long stretch the largest ever acquisition of a clinical-stage company and cranks up the heat in the already intense HCV development space. Click here to see the deal nomination post.

Pfizer's CTIs: Pfizer's city-based networks of medical institutions will, in theory, throw up the projects that the pharma giant needs to fuel is biopharmaceutical pipeline. The biggest academic-alliance splash in ... forever? Click here for the deal nomination post.

Lilly/Boehringer: Lilly married its struggling diabetes franchise with what's still only a pipeline at private German group Boehringer Ingelheim -- the year's biggest pharma-pharma alliance and a template for deals to come? Click here for the deal nomination post.

Genentech/Forma: Isn't it about time that biotech alliances began looking more like acquisitions? This deal, which offers the potential of some liquidity for Forma's backers, helps to provide return-without-exit and if successful offers a new path for biotech independence. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Pfizer/Puma: Don't call it a cougar -- the next big cat in Alan Auerbach's menagerie licensed an intriguing cancer asset from Pfizer, raised $60 million, and went public via reverse merger. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Merck/Roche: Long adversaries in the HCV treatment space, Merck and Roche teamed up this year to sell Merck's first-to-market direct antiviral Victrelis as well as test out new HCV therapy combinations. Score one for pragmatism, pharma-pharma pre-commercial cooperation, and frenemies everywhere. Click here for the deal nomination post.

AZ/Healthcore: What's development and regulatory success without the means to convince payors and patients to shell out their cash for your drug? In 2011 we saw a flurry of pharma-payor dealmaking that illustrates industry's awakening to addressing the needs of those who hold the purse strings. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Reata/Abbott: AIM high and vote for the second huge deal between these two companies -- and their second DOTY nomination -- in the past two years. Reata gets $400 million up-front for worldwide co-dev/co-promo rights to its preclinical antioxidant inflammation modulator portfolio. The private company is sitting on at least $850 million in Abbott cash and has set itself up nicely for an independent future. Click hear to read the deal nomination post.

Ascletis: One of the largest Series A rounds ever in biopharma -- $50 million in the first tranche, with another $50 million guaranteed to follow when the company hits certain milestones -- and a serious nod toward the growth of China on the global biopharma stage. Click here for the deal nomination post.

BMS/Amira: This $325 million buyout was a great return for Amira's backers and the result of an interesting structure that sees former Amira assets seeding a handful of newco's. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Radius Pharma: The twin moves that garnered Radius a DOTY nomination came on the heels of what might become a frequent occurrence in the option-heavy dealmaking world we live in: partner Novartis declined to pursue the company's Phase III ready osteoporosis compound. To go it alone, Radius nailed down a $91 million cash-and-debt Series C and floated its shares via reverse merger with a public shell company. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Eisai/SFJ: In a move that gives it greater development bandwidth, Eisai is handing the bill for Phase III studies of its thyroid cancer treatment lenvatinib to SFJ. Eisai will pay milestones to SFJ only if lenvatinib gains regulatory approval, and Eisai itself conducts the global trials and also keeps all commercial rights. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Quanticel: This Stanford-grown genomic analysis company's emergence illustrates an important trend in biotech financing: linking investment to exit, even if that means ruling out a home-run return. Quanticel, backed by Versant Ventures, took in $45 million from Celgene for rights to its platform for three and a half years and an exclusive option to buy the company. Click here for the deal nomination post.

Arteus: Asset financing as a concept isn't quite new, but 2011 saw several venture investors build out the asset-centric model in a way that's uniquely suited for these capital-constrained times. Arteus is the first asset-financing play out of Atlas Venture's Atlas Venture Development Corp. The molecule in question, a migraine drug candidate, has Lilly roots and potentially a Lilly future, as that Big Pharma has lined up an option to reacquire the asset from Atlas. Click here for the deal nomination post.