Dive Brief:
- Actavis' acquisition of Allergan is now complete. The new joint company, which will be rebranded simply as Allergan, is now one of the top ten largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, with $23 billion in anticipated revenues for 2015.
- Brent Saunders is in place as CEO of Actavis, and David Pyott, the long-time CEO of Allergan, will be leaving and will not be joining the new company's board. He will, however, retain his position as chairman of the Allergan Foundation.
- In December 2014, Actavis announced that it did not intend to keep any of Allergan's top management.
Dive Insight:
When Actavis agreed to acquire Allergan for $66 billion in November 2014, it was not clear how the management team would be organized. But over the last several months, the plan has become increasingly clear.
With Actavis chief Brent Saunders at the helm as CEO of the new Allergan, the company has a strong portfolio of generic and branded drugs, including Botox, which made roughly $2 billion last year. Another positive for Allergan: A solid pipeline of drugs at various stages of clinical development and an ongoing cover commitment to R&D.
One of Allergan's major concerns last year when Valeant was pursuing a hostile takeover was their contention that Valeant wanted to slash R&D. While Actavis has said that there will be some cuts in R&D, they will not be as severe as the cuts that Valeant had planned.