Irvine-based drug maker Allergan Inc. and one of its chief competitors again have been mentioned as potential buyers for Long Beach-based specialty pharmaceuticals company Obagi Medical Products Inc.
This time the word is from an article on the Motley Fool investor website. Allergan spokesperson Bonnie Jacobs declined comment.
Obagi makes skin-care solutions that are enhanced with vitamin C, as well as treatments for sallowness, chest skin elasticity and an eyelash growth solution.
The Motley Fool noted Obagi stock was ramping up after the company’s management filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission lifting a “poison-pill” shareholder rights plan in mid-July.
It called Obagi a “cosmeceutical” company that offers a good fit either with Allergan or Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. of Scottsdale, Ariz. Medicis makes Restylane—a lower-face filler that competes with Allergan’s Juvéderm—and Dysport, which competes with Allergan’s flagship Botox.
The article noted that “Obagi even has an eyelash enhancement solution that fits in very well with the [specialty drug] segment of Allergan.”
Other notable elements include Allergan’s healthy free cash flow and an existing sales force to serve dermatologists and eye-care professionals.
Medicis is also considered a good fit but has less robust free cash flow for such an acquisition.
Griffin-American
Newport Beach healthcare real estate investor Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II Inc. continues to build up its portfolio.
Griffin-American recently bought 14 medical office buildings for an aggregate purchase price of $106.7 million. The buildings—which are in nine states, including Colorado, Texas, Alabama and others—have a total of 474,000 square feet of space.
Rockwall Medical Center, a two-story, multitenant medical office building in Rockwall, Texas, is the largest of the deals with 85,000 square feet of space. The largest of the acquisitions is Centre Medical Plaza, which is in Chula Vista and has nearly 75,000 square feet between two buildings.
Griffin-American bought the buildings from various third-party sellers.
The new buildings “are either on the campus of, in close proximity to, or strongly affiliated with a major healthcare system,” Danny Prosky, Griffin-American’s president, said in a release.
Prosky said that was “a characteristic we value when evaluating a potential acquisition.”
Griffin-American was previously a unit of Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. (now called Newmark Grubb Knight Frank). Griffin Capital Corp. and American Healthcare Investors LLC took over sponsorship of the unit in late 2011.
It now has a portfolio of 90 healthcare-related buildings valued at some $822 million.
Compensation Shifts
Doctors saw moderate changes in how they were paid last year, according to a new national survey from the Medical Group Management Association.
Primary care doctors reported a 5% increase in median compensation. Family practitioners who don’t deliver babies reported median earnings of $200,114. The association reported that pediatric/adolescent medicine doctors earned $203,948 in median compensation.
There looks to be a growing focus on primary care doctors in anticipation of new payment methodologies, efforts to coordinate care and “the imperative to control utilization and costs in the system,” the Englewood, Colo.-based association said.
Specialists who reported compensation increases included radiologists, anesthesiologists and psychiatrists. Those specialists who reported slight decreases in their compensation included nephrologists, or kidney specialists; OB-GYNs who only provide gynecology services; and radiation oncologists.
Non-physician providers were also included in the survey.
Physician assistants in primary care earned $92,635 in median compensation, the association said. Those who work in surgical settings reported $111,246 in median compensation.
Bits and Pieces
St. Joseph Hospital in Orange said it was the first local hospital to perform a Makoplasty total hip replacement surgery. The hospital used a device touted for its surgical accuracy and made by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Mako Surgical Corp. to perform the operation on a 64-year-old retired high school teacher and football coach. … NextGen Healthcare Information Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Irvine software maker Quality Systems Inc., said it signed a deal with Southwest Community Health Center Inc. of Bridgeport, Conn. NextGen will deploy electronic medical record, practice management and electronic dental record software across the health center’s 12 southwest Connecticut locations.
