Bayer’s incoming CEO Werner Baumann knows a thing or two about dealmaking, and he’s ready to put his M&A smarts to good use. Baumann wants to build up the company’s animal health unit through targeted acquisitions and partnerships once he takes the reins next month.
Then again, Baumann just might sell it off.
The German drugmaker’s animal health business is one “that we have been trying for many years to strengthen strategically, that is to say inorganically. That is still our goal,” Baumann said, as quoted by Reuters.
The animal health industry is “highly attractive” even though it’s “relatively small,” and the company has the product line and pipeline to succeed in the market, Baumann said, but deals are a natural choice, too. “There are possibilities to further strengthen the business and that is our goal,” he said.
The company’s Seresto flea and tick collar for dogs has contributed to growth. And Bayer is also developing Zelnate, a drug that helps boost farm animals’ immunity to infectious diseases without antibiotics. The company’s animal health unit brought in €1.49 billion ($1.71 billion) last year, and the business is expected to grow “slightly” this year, Bayer said in February.
If dealmaking doesn’t work out, though, a sale of the unit could be the next best option. Bayer “will have to ask the strategic question, as is the case with all our businesses, are these businesses well placed with us as best owner or can these businesses perhaps progress better in a different environment, with different access to resources?,” Baumann said.
Baumann, a 28-year veteran of Bayer, knows how to wrap up a deal. The new helmsman, who will succeed current CEO Marijn Dekkers on May 1, has played a big role in the company’s recent acquisitions. Baumann was part of “the driving force” behind the company’s $14.2 billion deal for Merck’s consumer health unit in 2014.
Beefing up in animal health could pay off for Bayer. The company stands to grab the number two spot in the market, Reuters points out, giving rivals such as Merck and Eli Lilly a run their money. Sanofi late last year entered exclusive talks to transfer its Merial animal health unit to Boehringer Ingelheim, which would further dial up competition.
Plus, Zoetis is still ripe for the taking after Valeant’s attempts failed last year. Bayer has already missed out on one animal health deal after Lilly’s Elanco snatched up Novartis’ animal health unit in 2014. And some analysts have speculated that Bayer would not wait on the sidelines this time if an opportunity to buy Zoetis came along.
By Emily Wasserman
Source: Fierce Pharma
Though Galapagos has undergone plenty of staff shake-ups and strategy revamps in recent years, the company is sticking strong to the CAR-T pivot first unveiled by CEO Paul Stoffels, M.D., following his arrival at the biotech from Johnson & Johnson in early 2022.
The new investment is expected to create more than 500 jobs and significantly strengthen France’s ability to control the production of essential medicines from start to finish, the company stated. According to Sanofi, this plan increases the amount Sanofi has committed to major projects in France since the Covid-19 pandemic to over €3.5 billion.
A tough biotech funding environment and a downturn in COVID-related contracts has weighed heavily on CDMOs of all stripes in recent years. Now, with a new CEO waiting in the wings, Swiss manufacturing juggernaut Lonza is attempting to reassure the market that an industry stabilization is on the horizon.
