After recently tying up a nearly $7 billion deal with Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo for a next-gen breast cancer program, AstraZeneca is happy, for the most part, to focus on its own pipeline and not go after deals.
Speaking to reporters during its second-quarter financials call this morning, the U.K.-based Big Pharma’s CEO Pascal Soriot said: “Our focus is on our pipeline and delivering on our planned growth, improving our operating margin and our cash flow. That is our absolute focus today.”
But, and it was ever thus, Soriot said the company “would remain open to opportunities that come our way” if they are at the “right price” and can add value, like he sees with the Daiichi deal.
He did add, however, that there are “not so many opportunities” for M&A, a common theme among Big Pharma CEOs, who typically bemoan the high prices at which many biotechs are being valued.
AstraZeneca was up 4% in early trading this morning, with sales growing (PDF) at a strong 17% (at constant exchange rates) for the first half, boosted by revenue coming in from new meds as well as a strong showing in China.
By Ben Adams
Source: Fierce Biotech
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argenx SE, a global immunology company committed to improving the lives of people suffering from severe autoimmune diseases, announced that Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has approved VYVGART™ (efgartigimod alfa) intravenous infusion for the treatment of adult patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) who do not have sufficient response to steroids or non-steroidal immunosuppressive therapies (ISTs).
GSK has rejected three offers from Unilever to buy GSK’s consumer health unit, the company said Saturday. The latest offer from the fellow U.K. consumer goods giant, received Dec. 20 for a total value of 50 billion pounds ($68 billion), “fundamentally undervalued” the business and its prospects, GSK said.
