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Strategies & Market Trends : Speculating in Takeover Targets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richardred who wrote (2305)	7/23/2010 7:15:49 PM
From: richardred	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 7252

Sanofi May Be Looking, But Is Any Biotech Worth Buying? Lisa LaMotta JUL 02, 2010 12:50 PM Sanofi May Be Looking, But Is Any Biotech Worth Buying? The Big Pharma is rumored to be in the market for a big US biotech company, but most of the potential targets come with too much baggage. Rumors have been making waves since late Thursday night that Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) is in the market to make a biotech acquisition in the US of more than $20 billion. The news reportedly came from five people with knowledge of the situation, according to an article by Bloomberg, which said the company had called a special meeting to talk about the deal that's still in its infancy. The news agency didn’t identify its sources or expound on possibilities of what company might be the target. Sanofi-Aventis told Minyanville that it wouldn't comment on market speculation. While Chris Viehbacher, Sanofi’s chief executive, has made it clear to the public and investors that the French drugmaker does intend to make plenty of acquisitions, he's also said that they'd be on a small-to-mid-size scale. If the reports of a pending acquisition are true, it would be completely out of character for the Big Pharma. “A major acquisition would not be consistent with their recent past; it would be a total strategy shift,” said Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder. Since Viehbacher has taken the reigns at Sanofi, the company has made more than 15 deals -- with only one garnering a price tag of more than $2 billion. That purchase was the company’s acquisition of Merck’s (MRK) half of its animal health and vaccine business Merial for a reported $4 billion. Viehbacher has even said publicly that he plans to stick to acquisitions of $15 billion or less. (A timeline of all of the recent Sanofi acquisitions can be seen at FierceBiotech.) These reports beg the question, why would Sanofi change its game plan? The answer to that question could easily be that it needs to build up its pipeline and pad its bottom line against the brunt of generic competition. Funtleyder considers Sanofi’s pipeline to be less than stellar, but certainly far from being in the worst shape amongst its Big Pharma brethren. He believes that companies like Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), and Novartis (NVS), would be on the better end of the spectrum, while Pfizer (PFE) and Eli Lilly (LLY) occupy the losing end. Beyond its pipeline, Sanofi needs to make up for revenues that it's losing to generic competition for some of its major drugs, including the blockbuster blood thinner Plavix and the cancer treatment Eloxatin. Analysts point to the fact that the French drugmaker has a lack of biotech capabilities and a less-geographically diversified R&D model as other reasons why this sort of acquisition might be underfoot. But what companies could the Big Pharma be interested in? Speculation is swirling around US-based biotechs like Genzyme (GENZ), Allergan (AGN), and Biogen Idec (BIIB), all of which trade above $40 per share and have a market cap above $12 billion. (All three companies have seen experienced gains in their share price since the rumors began.) Yet, all three of these companies come with plenty of problems. Both Genzyme and Biogen Idec have had nasty battles with activist billionaire investor Carl Icahn in their recent histories. Biogen hired a new CEO, George Scangos, earlier this week after fights with Icahn caused long-time Chief Executive James Mullen to leave the company. Critics have been questioning whether Scangos is a good choice, due to his lack of knowledge concerning all areas of Biogen’s business. He joined the company from a smaller drugmaker, Exelixis (EXEL). If Sanofi were to buy Genzyme, it would be inheriting a Consent Decree from the FDA. The biotech received the punishment and hefty fines for problems within its manufacturing facilities. The problems have caused two of its major drug candidates to have significant shipping delays and lose market share to competition. (For more on Genzyme’s woes, see Is Shire the Next Genzyme, Minus the Headaches?) As for Allergan, which many think would be the best fit for Sanofi, it has plenty of issues as well. The company is best known for its cosmetic product Botox. Allergan is currently caught up in a swath of litigation due to its marketing of off-label uses. The company has been preaching the merits of Botox as a therapeutic solution to migraines, despite not gaining approval from the FDA for this indication -- a major no-no. Allergan has since filed suit to seek permission to espouse the benefits of Botox beyond cosmetic purposes. Fears have surfaced that terrorists could use Botox’s active ingredient, the deadly botulism toxin, as a biological weapon. Allergan has denied that the blockbuster drug could pose a threat. Despite the positives for all of these companies, their baggage is pretty extensive, and no one likes to strike up a new relationship with someone who has a lot of baggage. “We don’t know where this speculation is coming from or what the agenda of those people could be,” added Funtleyder. “I don’t think this information could be coming from Sanofi because it's not in their interest to have this information out there.” minyanville.com

To: richardred who wrote (2305)	7/23/2010 7:37:59 PM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7252

2009-07-22 GlaxoSmithKline Completes Acquisition of Stiefel - GSK creates new world-leading specialist dermatology business with revenues of approximately $1.5 billion - Significant step forward to diversify GSK’s business and provide immediate new growth opportunities GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. GSK has acquired the total share capital of Stiefel for a cash consideration of $2.9 billion. GSK also assumed $0.4 billion of net debt. Under the terms of the agreement, GSK may be obligated to make additional cash payments of up to $0.3 billion depending on the future performance of the business. The new dermatology business unit within GSK will operate under the name Stiefel, a GSK company. Deirdre Connelly, President, North American Pharmaceuticals, GSK said, “The Stiefel acquisition demonstrates how we are implementing our strategy to grow and diversify our business through targeted acquisitions. We now have established a new world-leading, specialist dermatology business that will immediately generate new revenue flows to GSK.” Charles Stiefel, Chairman of Stiefel, said, “As part of GSK, we are stronger, more competitive and continue to be a driving force in dermatology around the world. We are excited to combine GSK’s prescription dermatology products, such as Bactroban, Cutivate and Altabax, with Stiefel’s portfolio, including brands such as Duac, Olux E and Soriatane. This combined portfolio, together with our specialty sales force and GSK’s global presence, positions GSK’s dermatology business for significant growth.” Sales of Stiefel’s products for 2008 were approximately $900 million and sales of GSK’s prescription dermatology products were approximately $550 million. The combined pro forma revenues of approximately $1.5 billion, represent an 8% share of the global prescription dermatology market. Stiefel is committed to improving and developing new treatments and has a robust development pipeline, with more than 15 projects in late-stage development across a wide variety of dermatological conditions, such as acne, dermatoses and fungal infection. The business unit also has access to significant innovative and proprietary formulation technologies. GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit www.us-gsk.com

To: richardred who wrote (2305)	8/24/2010 2:15:22 PM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7252

Will Medicis Pharmaceutical Leave Investors Looking Good? By Christina Wise, Investor's Business Daily Posted 12:56 PM ET Featured Stocks * MRX * Medicis Pharmaceut Cl A * Top-Rated Company Today we're going to look at Medicis Pharmaceutical (MRX). The drug maker specializes in products that make you look better. That includes treatments for wrinkles, acnes, rosacea and other conditions. * Sales growth has ranged from 23% to 67% recently. * On the earnings front, growth slowed a few years back. But things seem to have turned around. Earnings were up 44% last quarter. They got a boost from sales of the firm's acne treatments. * For the full year, analysts see earnings rising 38% in 2010. But they also predict growth will slow to 11% next year, so that's something to factor in. * Mutual funds own about 27% of the company's shares. But the number of funds owning the stock has dropped in recent quarters. * The stock is a member of the Medical-Ethical Drugs industry group, which is ranked No. 13 among the 197 groups IBD tracks. Chart Analysis Will Medicis Pharmaceutical Leave Investors Looking Good? Will Medicis Pharmaceutical Leave Investors Looking Good? View Enlarged Image * Turning to its weekly chart, the stock formed a cup-shaped base (Point 1). * The buy point was calculated by adding 10 cents to the peak on the left side of the base at 26.55 (Point 2). So the ideal buy point was 26.65. * The stock broke out past that buy point on August 6 (Point 3). It hit a new high, then dropped back near its buy point (Point 4). That's not surprising given how choppy the broader market has been lately. Stock Checkup * Stock Checkup shows its Composite Rating is the fourth highest among the 50 stocks in its industry group. * Its EPS Rating is the fifth highest. * And its Relative Strength Rating is No. 10 in the group. * It gets some mixed marks in the Stock Checklist. For instance, its recent earnings growth has been strong, so that gets a green light showing it passes in that category. * But earnings growth hasn't accelerated, so it scores a red light in that area. * And with the broader market uptrend under pressure, the yellow light in that category tells you to be careful about the stocks you invest in. investors.com