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posted by n1 on Tuesday November 24 2015, @12:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the drug-money dept.

Pfizer has agreed to buy Allergan, Plc for $160 billion:

US drugs giant Pfizer has agreed a deal to buy Botox-maker Allergan for $160bn (£106bn), making this the biggest pharmaceuticals deal in history. The merger will create the world's biggest drugmaker, to be called Pfizer.

Allergan shareholders will receive 11.3 shares in the merged company for each of their Allergan shares. Analysts have suggested the deal will allow Pfizer to escape relatively high US corporate tax rates by moving its headquarters to Dublin. Last year, Pfizer made an offer to buy UK drugs group AstraZeneca, which rejected the offer, arguing it undervalued the company.

Aside from Botox, Allergan also makes the Alzheimer's drug Namenda and dry-eye medication Restasis. Pfizer makes that-which-cannot-be-named, nerve pain treatment Lyrica, and pneumonia treatment Prevnar. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Pfizer said it expects to buy back about $5 billion in shares in the first half of next year under an accelerated program.

The merger will create a pharmaceutical behemoth, with top-selling products including Pfizer's Prevnar pneumonia vaccine and Allergan's anti-wrinkle treatment Botox and industry-topping R&D budget. The company's drugs and vaccines would cover a range of diseases, from Alzheimer's to cancer, eye health to rheumatoid arthritis.

The deal brings together two pharmaceutical powerhouses with more than $60 billion in combined sales. Last year, Actavis, which bought Allergan and took its name, had more than $13 billion in sales, while Pfizer had nearly $50 billion in revenue.

[...] Pfizer and Allergan said that after the deal closes, the combined company will decide on splitting into two businesses, one focused on patent-protected products and the other on drugs that have lost their patent protection or are close to losing it. It expects to make that decision by the end of 2018.

Related: Judge Rules Drug Maker Cannot Halt Sales of Alzheimer's Medicine - Drug maker Actavis, Plc tried to replace Namenda with a new, patented form. The company changed its name to Allergan, Plc by June 15, 2015.


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:28PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:28PM (#267444) Journal
    Who cares?... I still have the Revigator my grandfather passed along.
    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:31PM

      by Gravis (4596) on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:31PM (#267446)

      The Revigator contained carnotite K2(UO2)2(VO4)2·3H2O. Water stored overnight in a vintage Revigator was analyzed by ICP/MS and radiation detectors. Although the water contained higher levels of radon, the health risk from radiation was low. But the water also contained arsenic, lead, vanadium, and uranium.[3]

      -wikipedia

      sounds delicious. ;)

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:42PM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:42PM (#267457) Journal
        Yeap... especially the lead.
        The ancient Romans knew it makes the wine sweeter, and went [wikipedia.org] crazy [wikipedia.org] for it
        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Gravis on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:28PM

    by Gravis (4596) on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:28PM (#267445)

    since they are consolidating this means they will reduce the price of medications, right?... right?... guys? ;)

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by moondoctor on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:43PM

      by moondoctor (2963) on Tuesday November 24 2015, @01:43PM (#267458)

      Whoa buddy, easy with that commie shit. Reducing price would reduce profits which is seriously fucking Un-American. Hopefully this will allow them to have a tighter grip on the market, raise prices astronomically and show the world that the USA can makes money the bestest of anyone.

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by dublet on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:16PM

        by dublet (2994) on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:16PM (#267481)

        And actually, this is nothing but a tax dodge. Since by acquiring this Irish company they can relocate their official business address to be Ireland, which has massively lower corporation tax rates.

    • (Score: 2) by mtrycz on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:15PM

      by mtrycz (60) on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:15PM (#267478)

      Yes, obviusly.
      That's how capitalism works, no?

      --
      In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:43PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:43PM (#267505)

      The head of Pfizer is an accountant.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by fadrian on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:49PM

    by fadrian (3194) on Tuesday November 24 2015, @02:49PM (#267509) Homepage

    How did a summary that long omit the one piece of the story that seems to be the lede in every other one? That this is yet another big tax inversion [wikipedia.org] dodge by a major American company.

    --
    That is all.
    • (Score: 2) by gringer on Tuesday November 24 2015, @05:43PM

      by gringer (962) on Tuesday November 24 2015, @05:43PM (#267612)

      If it wasn't there when you read the summary, it is now:

      Analysts have suggested the deal will allow Pfizer to escape relatively high US corporate tax rates by moving its headquarters to Dublin. Last year, Pfizer made an offer to buy UK drugs group AstraZeneca, which rejected the offer, arguing it undervalued the company.

      --
      Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 24 2015, @06:10PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 24 2015, @06:10PM (#267623)

    Pfizer makes that-which-cannot-be-named

    We're adults here; we should be able to name Viagr-a without needing to avoid a spam filter.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 25 2015, @01:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 25 2015, @01:38AM (#267809)

    is to block deals like this one.