Dive Brief:
- After a period of inventory-accounting restatement and management upheaval, Valeant is ready to hit the acquisition trail again.
- Salix has a market value of roughly $9 billion.
- Salix is waiting for an FDA decision regarding use of Xifaxan (rifaximin) for treatment of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Currently, Xifaxan is used for prevention of overt hepatic encephalopathy recurrence.
Dive Insight:
When Valeant lost its bid to acquire Allergan last year, the company took a hard look at its failure and decided to reevaluate its approach to communication, as well as its management line-up. Michael Pearson openly admitted that the company misread some of the cues in the marketplace as they pursued Allergan—which allowed Actavis to swoop in and buy Allergan for $66 billion in November.
This time it's different: The deal in question would be less than $20 billion, with a per-share offer of of to $270, according to a Sterne Agee Group analyst, as reported in Bloomberg.
If the Salix deal happens, Valeant will acquire drugs to treat ulcerative colitis and diarrhea, and could also benefit from an expanded indication for Xifaxin. The PDUFA date for the Xifaxin-IBS-D decision is Feburary 28.