Allergan Continues its Serial Acquisitions to be a Giant Drugmaker

With Allergan’s absorption by Actavis last year, we ask ourselves, will the newly formed company enter the World’s Top Ten drugmaker companies worldwide? And it has been very active indeed, expanding its portfolio with several acquisitions. Allergan’s buyout fever is not finished as the company just announced the acquisition of Naurex!

It was in mars 2015, when Actavis completed the acquisition of Allergan. Just two months before, Actavis had gobbled Auden McKenzie for £306M (€429M) in cash. The transaction made Actavis the number one supplier of generic pharmaceuticals in the UK. The first quarter of the year ended for the giant with an increased revenue of 59% to $4.23Bn (€3.81Bn).

To ensure that the corporate identity reflects Actavis transformation into “a leader in Growth Pharma”, as its CEO Brent Saunders stated, Actavis took over the name of its absorbed company and became Allergan.

The company holds a leading position in cosmetics, thanks to its neurotoxin botox. In June, it consolidated its position in two different ways. It acquired Kythera Pharmaceuticals with its treatment against double chin and got an FDA approval for breasts implants.

In July, Allergan broaden its pipeline of CNS development products. With an upfront payment of $250M (€225M), it bought the rights of  Merck‘s migraine development program, comprising a Phase II and a Phase III treatment.

Three days ago, another take over happened: Allergan announced it will buy Ireland’s Naurex for $560M (€504M) cash. As Naurex CEO Norbert Riedel told FierceBiotech, the buyer has a special interest in the two lead depression drugs. He adds that the deal is a win-win for both companies: Allergan gains access to a late-stage program for the drugs and Naurex can exploit its expertise in discovering new therapeutics.

However, Allergan isn’t always betting on becoming bigger in size – at least not in short term. Just yesterday, the company sold its generics business for $40.5Bn to the Israelian Teva Pharmaceutical Industrie. “This transaction will accelerate Allergan’s evolution into a branded Growth Pharma leader, enable a sharpened focus on expanding and enhancing our global branded pharmaceutical business”, said Saunders in a statement.

The new money will definetly lead to more acquirements. “There are always opportunities” Saunders statesbin an interview with Forbes: “And I think what makes us strongly positioned, is that we can move fast. If there is a value opportunity, we’re not going to take six months to evaluate it.” The success proves that Allergan’s strategy is right. Today, the NASDAQ-listed company has a market cap of $130Bn (€117Bn) – with upward tendency.

Explore other topics: AllerganIrelandMerck

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