Dive Brief:
- Allergan showed no signs of letting up on its year-long acquisition splurge during a Wednesday morning earnings call, stating it's open to more deals that would boost intellectual property, R&D and commercial capabilities.
- The Dublin-based biopharma said it is looking at deals in the $100 million to several billion dollar range that align or relate to its therapeutic areas.
- Company execs also highlighted the need to expand its geographic footprint internationally, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Turkey, Middle East and Africa regions.
Dive Insight:
Allergan has spent the bulk of 2016 reshaping itself, largely through M&A. The company has taken on nine "stepping stone" acquisitions since January, including six during the third quarter. A cash and marketable securities war chest of $27.4 billion gives the company a firm base to do more.
"We do retain significant firepower to do stepping stones irregardless of our capital allocation decisions," CEO Brent Saunders said in the November 2 call.
So far Allergan has snatched up eye care provider ForSight VISION5, gene therapy developer RetroSense, dermatology treatment producers Topokine and Vitae Pharmaceuticals, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) drug makers Tobira and Akarna. Those acquisitions have given then biopharma access to drug candidates that include NASH treatment cenicriviroc and psoriasis medicine VTP-43724.
Over the coming 12 months, the company expects to see at least 11 drugs move through clinical phases. For example, brazikumab, a Crohn's disease treatment co-developed with AstraZeneca, is expected to see Phase 2 data next year.
Allergan also announced it would up a previously announced $10 billion stock buyback program to $15 billion. As of October 21, the company had repurchased $5 billion worth of stock.
"For now, we should just point out, the most accretive deal — overwhelmingly accretive thing we can do — is buy our stock," Saunders said.
Allergan stock was down around 2.5% to $203.6 in Wednesday morning trading. Its shares are down nearly 35% year-to-date as investors worry about the viability of the company's business model and its sparse R&D offerings.