Irvine-based Allergan Inc. is offering “a precious commodity” for pharmaceutical investors—growth, according to one analyst.
The company is a “noteworthy exception” to slower growth trends among larger drug makers, Stephen Simpson said in an article published on the Motley Fool investor website.
He said Allergan “continues to see strong demand for cornerstone products like Botox and Restasis, as well as its facial aesthetics line.”
He called the drug maker, which had a recent market value of $39 billion, “one of the best growth prospects in the large-cap pharmaceutical space” and predicted a 6% long-term revenue growth rate.
Allergan’s revenue grew 12% to $6.3 billion last year with $985 million in profits. Wall Street expects it to reach nearly $6.9 billion this year.
“The company’s growth and healthy balance sheet (which it can use to acquire smaller companies in aesthetics, eye care, dermatology, urology and so on) do seem to offer more opportunities for upside” than slower-growing large drug makers, Simpson wrote.
He also spent a good deal of space giving examples of Allergan’s growth, including its emphasis on finding new markets for flagship “big dog” Botox.
“Botox is a good example of how Allergan works on already approved products to find new applications and markets,” Simpson said.
He mentioned Botox’ recent Food and Drug Administration approvals for chronic migraine headache and overactive bladder treatments.
“The buildup in overactive bladder has been slow, as Botox has had trouble gaining [awareness] against Astellas [Pharma Inc.] and Pfizer due to reimbursement issues. Reimbursement started improving in 2013, though, and [Botox’] profile in the market has improved to a point where Medtronic mentioned it as a competitive issue for its Interstim device in overactive bladder.”
Simpson said Allergan also appears to be “slowly improving acceptance and demand” for Botox in migraine treatment, noting that it’s one of the relatively few branded drugs being actively marketed for the condition.
Allergan is awaiting word on whether the FDA will clear its Levadex inhaled drug for acute migraine headache. Company executives have said they plan to create a “migraine franchise” with the mix of Botox and Levadex.
Summit on Care Continuum
UC Irvine Health’s Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care will host an inaugural summit on perioperative surgical homes from June 7 to 8 at the Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach. The event is targeting anesthesiologists, surgeons and hospital executives.
The perioperative surgical home concept is a continuum of coordinated care provided by multiple medical disciplines and led by anesthesiologists in a single location.
It’s designed to improve quality and safety, lower costs, and increase patient and provider satisfaction.
“Too often, perioperative care plans are variable and fragmented,” according to an American Association of Anesthesiologists statement on perioperative surgical homes. “The surgical-need decision often disconnects patients from their typical medical care. Surgical patients may experience lapses in care, duplication of tests and preventable harm. Costs rise, complications occur, physicians and other health care team members are frustrated, and the patient and family endure a lower-quality experience of care.”
Conference objectives include covering the model’s concepts, steps necessary to create such homes in hospitals, and more.
CalOptima Launches Network
Orange-based CalOptima said this month that it will launch a new healthcare network this year.
The health system provides publicly funded health coverage for low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities in Orange County, serves nearly 500,000 members,
and has more than 6,500 affiliated primary
care doctors and specialists, as well as 30 hospitals.
It said in a news release that it decided to create the CalOptima Community Network after working to identify needs of existing health networks and other stakeholders.
Town hall meetings with nonaffiliated doctors “revealed the necessity to reduce complexity in the healthcare systems for small medical practices and individual doctors,” CalOptima said. “By allowing those doctors to contract directly with CalOptima, more doctors may choose to serve patients in managed care.”
CalOptima’s Medi-Cal arm has grown. The health plan said it’s added more than 50,000 members since the beginning of the year due to the Affordable Care Act’s provisions to expand health insurance to lower-income people.
Separately, CalOptima said it was ranked fourth out of 46 plans in California for overall Medi-Cal quality in a survey by the state Department of Health Care Services.
The department publishes its Medi-Cal managed care performance dashboard, which summarized performance in last year’s third quarter. Cal-Optima’s Medi-Cal plan serves more than 475,000 people in the county.
