Abbott spin-off could attract mega merger

pharmafile | October 21, 2011 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing Abbott, Bayer, Humira, Merck, Roche 

Abbott’s new spin-off pharma firm could attract a lot of attention from big pharma looking to sure up their portfolios.

Jeffrey Holford, a Jefferies Group analyst told Bloomberg that the drug spinoff “is likely to be an attractive target”, and “will be a fairly clean, stand-alone unit, the type that gets picked up”.

The predictions come after Abbott announced break up its current company into two separate firms, reversing its previous trend of diversification.

The first will retain the ‘Abbott’ name alongside its current chief executive Miles White, and will focus on research-based medicines. 

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The as yet unnamed second firm will focus on medical products, including diagnostics and stents, and will be headed up by current senior vice president of global pharmaceuticals Richard Gonzalez.

Analysts are speculating on what the new spin-off could go for but the highest prediction comes from the Goldman Sachs Group, which believes it could sell for $54 billion.

It could gain an ever greater value, Goldman Sachs said, depending on how much the company may save through cost-cutting.

This would be based on the current strength of the firm’s biggest selling drug Humira, licenced for a number of autoimmune diseases, which made $6.5 billion last year. 

Roche, Bayer and Merck are the three firms most likely to go for an acquisition – according to analysts – as all three need to shore up their drug portfolios.

So far, all three firms have declined to comment on the speculation.

Ben Adams 

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