Allergan Inc. Chief Executive David Pyott, coming off a year in which he pulled off one of the biggest deals in local healthcare history by paying $3.2 billion for Inamed Corp., did a command performance recently on Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money” on CNBC.
Cramer is a big Allergan fan.
The company “fits the late stage of capitalism we’re in the wheels of capitalism are really greased by the desire to have wrinkle-free skin,” Cramer said.
The pairing of the colorful and explosive Cramer with the urbane, soft-spoken Pyott was worth watching alone. (See related story, page 7.)
Cramer touched on several topics with Pyott, including drugs to fight chronic neuropathic pain and eye care.
A good portion of the interview was devoted to Allergan’s medical cosmetic products, including Juv & #233;derm, the wrinkle-reducing drug for the lower face, flagship Botox and breast implants.
Allergan’s size makes for “great position” to serve doctors, according to Pyott.
“If we look at the plastic surgeon customer channel, the three largest consumables for a plastic surgeon (are) No. 1, breast implants, No. 2, Botox, (and) No. 3, dermal fillers, where of course we have Juv & #233;derm,” Pyott said. “So, indeed, we’re probably the best-positioned company in all this industry to participate in this really growing marketplace.”
Juv & #233;derm, which is in early use by plastic surgeons, is generating good response from customers, according to Pyott. The product faces off with Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp.’s Restylane. Scottsdale-based Medicis saw its own bid for Inamed trumped by Allergan.
“Next year, we’re going to do a head-to-head trial, Juv & #233;derm vs. Restylane, to see which people like better and which one lasts longer,” Pyott told Cramer.
Cramer’s Allergan love has stretched throughout much of 2006. In June, he told readers of his TheStreet.com Web site column to “keep gold on your mind, but right now, we’re after vanity. Vanity is en fuego.”
In other Allergan news, Forbes.com mentioned the drug maker in a piece on the fastest-growing plastic surgery procedures, noting that surgeons collected $1.3 billion worth of fees for Botox in 2005. The fastest-growing procedures were skin-removal surgeries on people who lost weight after gastric bypass surgery, the story said.
Allergan is involved in weight-loss surgery through the Lap-Band, a device that’s placed on a patient’s stomach and is reversible, unlike traditional gastric bypass procedures.
Medicare to Hit Alliance Imaging
Anaheim’s Alliance Imaging Inc., which provides medical scanning services, said its 2007 earnings would be hit by Medicare reimbursement changes. Alliance runs diagnostic imaging systems in hospitals and at healthcare centers.
Alliance said it expects its earnings to be hurt by $14 million this year because of a reimbursement cut for imaging procedures that takes effect this week.
The company said it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and other onetime charges of $148 million to $156 million next year on revenue of $431 million to $443 million.
The Medicare imaging payment cut, which came about because of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and other regulatory changes “will significantly impact Alliance for 2007 and beyond,” Chief Executive Paul Viviano said.
UC Irvine Health Confab
The University of California, Irvine, is set to look at healthcare and politics at its annual Health Care Forecast Conference.
The conference runs Feb. 22 and 23 at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Science and Engineering at UC Irvine. The university’s Paul Merage School of Business’ Center for Health Care Management and Policy puts on the event.
Norman Ornstein, political pundit, TV commentator and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, continues his long run as keynote speaker. This will be his ninth conference. Other scheduled speakers include Bruce Bodaken, chief executive of Blue Shield of California; UCI Chancellor Michael Drake; and Sheryl Skolnick, a quotable managed care analyst who’s senior vice president of CRT Capital Group LLC.
Bits and Pieces:
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian of Newport Beach and Boston Scientific Corp. have teamed up to develop SimSuite, a mobile training lab to train doctors on a less invasive way to treat carotid artery disease. In other Hoag news, Chief Executive Richard Afable presents “An Uneasy Marriage: Health Care Technology and its Relationship to Quality” at the Jan. 11 meeting of the Orange County Employee Benefit Council. The morning meeting is at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa on Bristol Street. Information: www.ocebc.org Sutura Inc., a Fountain Valley-based medical device maker, received $1.5 million in debt financing from Whitebox Advisors LLC of Minneapolis. With the new round, Whitebox and its affiliates will have invested a total of $22.2 million in Sutura.
