Dive Brief:
- Reuters reports that Dublin-based Auxilium isn't very impressed with Endo's $2.2 billion takeover bid for the company, claiming that the offer "significantly undervalues" Auxilium's worth.
- Endo made its unsolicited takeover offer last week. The $2.2 billion bid is an approximate 30% premium over Auxilium's stock.
- Auxilium board members on Monday still voiced support for the company's plan to shift its tax base to Canada by purchasing the eye drug maker QLT in a $346 million deal. Auxilium also adopted a "poison pill" shareholder rights plan one day after Endo's original offer.
Dive Insight:
Auxilium finds itself in a better bargaining position after the FDA approved a revised label for Vivus' erectile dysfunction pill, Stendra, that says the medication can be taken just 15 minutes before sex. Auxilum has exclusive marketing rights for Stendra, and sales of the drug stood at $18 million in the first half of the year.
Some analysts believe that Auxilium will ultimately bow to pressure and accept the bid. “Our opinion is that the Endo offer gives Auxilium holders a far superior outlook to anything that the QLT acquisition could afford in the near-term and one the Auxilium board won’t be able to ignore,” said Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. analyst Corey Davis.