Allergan Is Bullish on Biotech

Ever since Allergan (NYSE: AGN) completed the $40.5 billion sale of its generics business to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) on August 2, the pharma giant is targeting biotech companies with a vengeance. In September alone (and we’re only talking about three weeks at this point), the company has announced four deals, totalling $1.28 billion. Year-to-date, Allergan has announced nine transactions for a total of $1.67 billion, more than Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) seven deals but far behind the $19.8 billion Pfizer committed to those transactions. (Pfizer’s biggest deal this year, the $13.5 billion acquisition of Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN), was announced in August.)... Read More »

Allergan Eyes Clinical-Stage Ocular Drugs

Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) just purchased privately-held RetroSense Therapeutics LLC for $60 million in an all-cash transaction, with potential regulatory and commercialization milestone payments. Based in Ann Arbor Michigan, RetroSense is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on novel gene therapy approaches to restore vision in those suffering from blindness. Its lead development program, RST-001, is a novel gene therapy for the potential treatment of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The acquisition gives Allergan global rights to RetroSense’s lead product candidate, RST-001. In 2014, RST-001 received Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of Retinitis... Read More »