Dive Brief:
- With the final steps of Actavis' Allergan acquisition in place as of March, the old Actavis is now the new Allergan PLC (AGN).
- However, the new firm will retain the Actavis name for certain regions, including the U.S. and Canada, as well as certain products.
- Allergan now has a market cap of more than $117 billion, which exceeds the market cap of Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as Eli Lilly and AbbVie, as BioSpace notes.
Dive Insight:
This name change comes after one of the most interesting M&A sagas in recent history in which Actavis bought Allergan for $66 billion dollars in November 2014 after Valeant launched a hostile takeover effort—an effort that went on for months—for Allergan.
But that's history now. CEO Brent Saunders is focused on the future and continuing to solidify Allergan's holdings and pipeline, which includes therapies in ophthalmology, neurology and dermatology/aesthetics.
Saunders also plans to leverage economies of scale, including combining sales forces, as well as other moves, which he ultimately predicts will result in roughly $1.8 billion per year in cost-savings.