Irvine will continue to play a critical role in the newly named Allergan plc as plans call for the drugmaker’s campus on Dupont Drive to remain the home of its biggest business lines.
“It’s the epicenter of two of our most important businesses”—the aesthetics and eye care lines —and “our largest site anywhere in the world,” according to Brent Saunders, chief executive of the company, which has its on-the-books headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, for tax purposes and U.S. operations centered in Parsippany, N.J.
Saunders emphasized the Irvine operation’s future in a discussion with the Business Journal sandwiched between a June 16 public interview at an ophthalmology industry summit in Costa Mesa and a conference phone call the following morning on the company’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc. in Westlake Village (see related OC Insider item, page 3).
Saunders gave the crowd of about 100 at the summit—hosted at the Center Club by Aliso Viejo-based nonprofit advocacy group Octane—some other perspectives during the interview with James Mazzo, an Allergan veteran who’s now chief executive of Irvine-based startup AcuFocus Inc.
Allergan was known as Actavis plc until it bought Irvine-based Allergan Inc. for $72.5 billion in a deal that wrapped up on March 17. The company took the Allergan name and the AGN ticker symbol last week when it unveiled a new logo.
Saunders acknowledged that the headcount at the Irvine campus has significantly shrunk since the operation came under the spotlight during last year’s takeover attempt by Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Filings with the California Employment Development Department indicate that the company cut nearly 1,100 jobs in the state—the bulk of them in Irvine—in a period stretching from October to earlier this month but that it’s been adding local positions.
“I suspect over time it will be a growth site in terms of employment and opportunities for employment,” Saunders said.
He said he sees future growth for Allergan in Irvine on the research and development and commercial sides.
“We’re going to continue to invest in internal R&D, as well as buy other assets to bring [in R&D],” Saunders said.
He also said Allergan’s legacy eye care business is an important player in the new company.
“It is the heritage of Allergan. I think it’s an incredibly bright and growth category for our company.”
Drugs will continue to be a focus in eye care, “but I think you’ll start to see us migrate into drug delivery devices, perhaps even diagnostics,” Saunders said.
Allergan intends to “climb the innovation ladder—there’s still so much unmet medical need” within eye health, he added.
Saunders estimated that the Irvine campus is back up to between 2,200 and 2,500 workers—roughly the number when the takeover battle started. Some of the current headcount stems from consolidation rather than new hires, though. He said some came from other now-closed locations in Santa Barbara and Carlsbad and that Allergan-owned advertising agency Pacific Communications is also expected to contribute to the total with a shift from offices in Costa Mesa to the Dupont campus.
Left unsaid was the possibility that Kythera Biopharmaceuticals’ operations—the company’s flagship drug treats chin fat and would seem to fall under the Irvine-based aesthetics line of business—could shift to Irvine.
Saunders called the prospect of Allergan plc moving its headquarters here “unlikely” and said the company has struck a “very nice balance” between Irvine and Parsippany.
“The facilities are much better here in Irvine than Parsippany—I have no problem saying that,” he said with a laugh, adding that he plans to spend roughly every other week in Irvine.
Saunders took questions from an audience member after his session with Mazzo, including a query on why he chose not to have a general manager of the Irvine operations.
“The R&D, aesthetics and eye care heads are all here,” Saunders told audience members, making such a role unnecessary.
The company plans to “remain very committed” to Orange County on the community front, he said. He mentioned the Allergan Foundation, of which former Chief Executive David Pyott serves as chairman, as an example. Saunders, who sits on the foundation’s board, said he wants to see more active community volunteering among Allergan’s workforce.
Allergan also is looking to retain its “historically strong” ties with the University of California-Irvine, he said.
“One of the things I’ve historically always done is partner with academic centers, because so much of what we do requires such strong talent from science and engineering and medicine,” said the former chief executive of Bausch + Lomb Inc., which is now part of Valeant.
