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 »
For a Short Month, February Was Long on Deal Volume
Ever wonder why February is the shortest month of the year? It didn’t even exist on the old Roman calendar, when there were only 10 months in a year. Later, the calendar was revised to include 12 lunar cycles totaling 355 days and January and February were added, with February as the last month of the year. In Julius Caesar’s day, the calendar was changed yet again to align with the solar cycle, which amounted to 365 days. And because a complete revolution of the Earth around the sun is actually 365-and-one-quarter days, an extra day is tacked onto the end of every fourth year, which we call a Leap Year. You remembered that from third grade, of course. All that brings us to why comparing... Read More »
Tax Overhaul Boosted Pharma Deals in Q4:17
The dam broke in the fourth quarter of 2017, and pharmaceutical deal makers began acquiring again. The Republican tax overhaul that lowered the tax rate for corporations’ repatriated cash was approved in December, spurring big drug companies to think about mergers and acquisitions once again. Deal volume in the fourth quarter shot up 100% over the previous quarter, to 34 transactions. Q4:17 basically equaled the same quarter in 2016, when 33 deals were announced. This quarter’s deal volume accounts for 35% of the 96 deals announced in the previous 12 months. Source: HealthCareMandA.com, January 2018 Twenty of the 34 announced transactions disclosed a price, making for a total of $6.9... Read More »