Personalized Medicine Isn’t All Biotech

There are many sides to personalized medicine, and genetic testing is just one. Another cropped up last week in an acquisition made by Restore Health, a privately held Wisconsin company that provides personalized medicines to health care providers across the United States. Its target was Diplomat Pharmacy’s (NYSE: DPLO) compounding pharmacy business, which includes preparation of personalized medicines for patients, and compounding pharmacists who work with prescribers to customize medication to meet specific patient health needs. The deal frees up Diplomat to focus on its core specialty pharmacy operations, which were bolstered with its acquisition of Burman’s Specialty Pharmacy for $82.8... Read More »

The Gores Group Exits with $1.325 Billion

Last week’s Biggest Deal was Mallinckrodt plc’s (NYSE: MNK) $1.325 billion acquisition of Therakos, Inc., an immunotherapy company, from The Gores Group. Gores acquired Therakos back in October 2012 for an undisclosed price from Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics. The transaction is expected to be accretive by no less than $0.10 per share to Mallinckrodt’s adjusted diluted fiscal 2016 earnings and increasingly accretive thereafter. With roughly 60% of Therakos’ revenue in the U.S., it expects fiscal 2015 net sales of $185 to $195 million, and anticipates high single-digit growth off that base going forward. Read More »

Deal Volume Rose in July

July’s combined transaction total hit 127 deals, up 2% compared with the bang-up month of July 2014, which had 124 transactions. The Services sector had a strong performance, accounting for 60% of deal volume. Long-Term Care made up 27% of the volume overall with 34 announced transactions. That equalled the record set last July for the sector, and will probably break it as more deals come to light. The Managed Care sector posted some extra activity, although seven deals versus two deals the month prior and a year ago isn’t moving  the needle very high. July 2015 DealsShare of Total Services Behavioral Health Care32% Home Health & Hospice23% Hospitals76% Labs, MRI & Dialysis43%... Read More »

Celgene Continues Its Buying Spree

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) made yet another major acquisition last week, picking up Receptos, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCPT) for $7.2 billion. The acquisition significantly boosts Celgene’s Inflammation and Immunology portfolio with the addition of Receptos’ lead product candidate, Ozanimod, which is in Phase 3 tests to treat immune-inflammatory indications in irritable bowel syndrome and relapsing multiple sclerosis. This is Celgene’s biggest deal in 2015, out of the six it has announced. So far, the drug maker has splurged nearly $8.8 billion on acquisitions, collaborations with other drug makers and licensing deals. Read More »

Eye Diseases Spur More M&A in July

At least three of the deals announced so far in July have targeted companies or compounds that treat eye diseases. The first was Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) and its $124 million deal with Applied Genetic Technologies (NASDAQ: AGTC) for the worldwide commercialization rights to one clinical-stage and one pre-clinical therapeutic program. Last week, Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) paid $125 million for Oculeve, Inc., a medical device company focused on new technologies for dry eye disease. Then, rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE: VRX) paid an undisclosed amount for the global rights to EyeGate Pharmaceuticals’ (OTCQB: EYEG) EyeGate II Delivery System and EGP-437 combination product... Read More »

Second Quarter Health Care M&A Spending Tanks

It’s still early yet, but we can say with confidence that the second quarter of 2015 doesn’t hold a candle to last year’s second quarter, at least dollar-wise. Last year, deal volume and value hit all-time highs for all previous Q2s, coming in at 325 deals and $135.8 billion in spending on those deals. This year, deal volume was fairly steady at 312 (remember, these are preliminary figures for Q2:15) but deal value plummeted 60% to $54.2 billion. We’ll have more details in the July issue of Health Care M&A News, but in the meantime, here are the biggest deals of Q2:15.  Read More »