Swedish Orphan Drug Maker Moves into the U.S.
Ready or not, here comes Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (STO: SOBI). The company recently paid $1.5 billion to AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) in a double-sided deal. First, it’s acquiring the perpetual U.S. rights to Synagis (palivizumab), which prevents serious lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) caused by FSV in high-risk infants. The other side of the deal gives SOBI participation in 50% of the future earnings of AstraZeneca’s drug candidate MEDI8897, which it has been jointly developing with Sanofi Pasteur (NYSE: SNY) since March 2017. MEDI8897 is a follow-on candidate to Synagis and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) being investigated for the prevention of LRTI caused by RSV. Sobi... Read More »
Canopy Growth Corp. Gets Ebbu Inc.
October 17, 2018 was a big day for Canada, which officially allowed adult recreational cannabis use across all provinces beginning at midnight. There was a flurry of deal making in the week leading up to the event, mostly from MedMen Enterprises (OTCQB: MMNFF) here in the States, as it snapped up dispensaries and their licenses. Up in Canada, Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE: CGC) made its own acquisition. Canopy Growth, based in Smith Falls, Ontario, is a global cannabis and help company with a current market cap of nearly $10.7 billion. On a trailing 12-month basis, it generated revenue of $66.1 million and a net loss of $106.4 million, so you can see there are some investors... Read More »
Cannabis Cultivators Keep Growing in October
The medical marijuana market is catching fire in the United States. Less than two weeks into the month of October, MedMen Enterprises (CSE: MMEN) has notched up four deals, and market giant Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) has announced one. MedMen, based in Culver City, California, is a leading cultivator, producer and retailer of state-sanctioned cannabis in the United States. At the beginning of October, it operated 18 licensed cannabis facilities in California, Nevada and New York, but that list keeps growing. Two of its recent targets are in Illinois, one in Arizona and one in California. The largest of the MedMen deals (to disclose a price) was its acquisition of PharmCann LLC, one of the... Read More »
Allergan Doubles Down on Aesthetics
September 14 was a big day for Allergan plc’s (NYSE: AGN) medical aesthetics business. The company announced its acquisition of Bonti, Inc., a privately held clinical-stage biotech that develops novel, fast-acting neurotoxin programs for aesthetic and therapeutic applications. Later that same day, Allergan hosted a Medical Aesthetics Day in New York, at which its chief commerical officer, Bill Meury, said the company expects the unit to generate between $7 billion and $8 billion in sales by 2025. The business unit generated $3.8 billion in 2017. Allergan’s Medical Aesthetics unit includes the famous neurotoxin Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA), which was first approved in 1989 and... Read More »
Summertime Sales from Novartis
It’s been a busy summer for Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS). The Swiss drug-maker has sold off a few assets, one at a loss. On August 31, Mylan NV (NYSE: MYL) acknowledged that it paid $463 million for Novartis’ cystic fibrosis products. Novartis sold the worldwide rights to commercialize its cystic fibrosis products TOBI Podhaler (tobramycin inhalation powder) and TOBI (tobramycin solution for inhalation). Mylan expects to pay $240 million this year, with the rest coming later. Then on September 6, Novartis announced the sale of certain assets in its Sandoz U.S. portfolio, specifically the Sandoz dermatology business and generic oral solids portfolio. It comprises approximately 300... Read More »Schedule a demo
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