Sector News

Allergan toys with $5B women's health sale to boost bottom-feeding shares

April 4, 2018
Life sciences

How times have changed. Just five short months after Allergan’s CEO assured investors that the company wouldn’t break up, it’s reportedly weighing options for its women’s health unit.

The Dublin drugmaker has met with advisers about a potential sale, sources told Bloomberg. And if Allergan does sell the business, which would likely draw interest from private equity firms, it could bring in more than $5 billion.

Another option? Sell off the portfolio in parts, just as Teva recently did with its own women’s health business. As RBC Capital Markets analyst Randall Stanicky pointed out in a note to clients, the Israeli pharma unloaded those assets quickly and at “attractive valuations.”

“We think that there would be buyers here,” he wrote.

Speaking of Stanicky, he’s been calling for an Allergan breakup for months—and for a women’s health sale in particular. Back in November, he predicted a transaction could generate $6 billion, although that was before a liver-safety review of uterine fibroids drug Esmya in Europe cast doubt on the med’s future and pushed back an FDA decision date on the product.

The way he sees it, examining options for women’s health “is a logical first step,” for Allergan as it works to lift its badly battered shares.

Initially, Allergan’s management thought it could boost those shares with cost cuts, which it rolled out last year after a Restasis patent decision paved the way for early copycats to the company’s No. 2 seller. But the bad news kept rolling in—complete with word of Mylan’s plans for a biosimilar threat to top-selling Botox—forcing Saunders to walk back his previous “no breakup” assurances.

Saunders’ “message was clear that all strategic options are being evaluated,” Stanicky wrote after hearing the skipper speak at a March investor conference, adding that Allergan was taking on the task “with a sense of urgency.”

By Carly Helfand

Source: Fierce Pharma

comments closed

Related News

December 3, 2023

FDA names chief scientist Bumpus as Woodcock’s successor

Life sciences

The Food and Drug Administration’s top scientist Namandjé Bumpus will assume the role of principal deputy commissioner when longtime agency leader Janet Woodcock retires from that role in early 2024, according to an announcement Thursday.

December 3, 2023

AbbVie to buy cancer drug maker ImmunoGen for $10.1 Billion

Life sciences

US biopharma AbbVie has agreed to acquire ImmunoGen in a deal which values the company at about $10.1 billion and gives AbbVie access to flagship cancer therapy Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx), a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approved for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC), as well as a pipeline of promising next-generation ADCs.

December 3, 2023

EuroAPI appoints new Executive Committee members

Life sciences

EUROAPI today announced the appointment of David Seignolle as Chief Operating Officer, succeeding Eric Berger, and Marion Santin as Chief Legal, Compliance, and IP Officer, both joining the company’s Executive Committee. In his new role, David Seignolle will lead the transformation of the Industrial Operations organization.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach