Dublin-based Allergan PLC, which has a Botox, medical aesthetics, dermatology and ophthalmology hub in Irvine, is getting close to divesting its generic drug portfolio to Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Teva is finalizing asset sales of up to $2 billion in order to get federal antitrust approval for the deal, Reuters reported this month. Company officials have said they anticipate the deal to be completed in June. European antitrust regulators have already approved it.
Allergan will gain an estimated $34 billion in cash once it divests the generic business, according to news reports about the sale. The money could fuel potential deals in Allergan’s seven core therapeutic areas following the April collapse of its $160 billion mega-deal with New York-based Pfizer Inc.
The Allergan-Pfizer deal was scuttled when the U.S. Treasury issued rules against tax inversions.
“… We are always on the lookout for growth assets, and I don’t want anyone to think that we’re looking for a big M&A transaction versus a string of pearls. Everything is on the table,” Allergan Chief Executive Brent Saunders said last month on a business strategy call.
St. Joseph Invests in Fla.
Irvine-based St. Joseph Health has invested in and partnered with Jacksonville Beach, Fla.-based Clearsense LLC for an undisclosed amount.
Clearsense is a data analytics firm.
St. Joseph Health said in a statement that it will pilot Clearsense Surveillance technology this fall. Clearsense Surveillance aggregates structured and unstructured data from all available sources. The applications allow clinical and financial decision makers to tap into analytics data without requiring upfront hardware investments or costs, according to the hospital operator.
“Many analytics technologies are extremely complex, only providing a reflective view, rather than real-time, predictive intelligence. With Clearsense, we can uncover data insights and valuable surveillance analytics that enable swift, proactive decisions,” said Bill Russell, St. Joseph Health’s chief information officer.
Auxilio Buys Back Stock
Mission Viejo-based Auxilio Inc. said this month that its board approved a program to repurchase up to $1 million of its common stock.
Auxilio provides managed print services and cybersecurity for the healthcare industry. Its shares have slid 29% since the beginning of the year, with a recent market value of $22 million.
The repurchase program “… sends a solid message to Wall Street that we strongly believe our stock is undervalued and that this is a good use of the company’s funds,” Chief Executive Joseph Flynn said in a news release.
Auxilio said it intends to use available cash to fund the repurchase. The company had $5.3 million in cash and up to about $1.8 billion in available and unused borrowing capacity.
Bits & Pieces
Irvine-based Nihon Kohden, a unit of Japan’s Nihon Kohden Corp., said it extended its neurology device contract with Charlotte, N.C.-based hospital buying group Premier Inc., which includes 3,600 hospitals and 120,000 other providers. Separately, the company introduced the Life Scope G9 bedside patient monitor. … Friends of Family Health Center in La Habra, Hurtt Family Health Clinic in Tustin and St. Jude Neighborhood Health Centers in Fullerton are among 40 federally qualified health centers in California to receive infrastructure investment program grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Friends of Family and St. Jude each received $1 million, and Hurtt received $586,844. … Manhattan Beach-based WellCare Partners opened a retail health center in Huntington Beach at the Bella Terra shopping center. The WellNow center provides urgent care services, travel vaccines, vitamin B12 shots, physicals, nutritional counseling and concussion testing, among other things. WellCare said the center’s pricing is tailored for patients who pay cash or those who have high-deductible insurance plans. … Irvine-based life science logistics company Cryoport Inc. was featured in an article published by the Industry Today trade publication on the consequences of using nonfrozen delivery systems for biopharmaceutical cargo. Cryoport uses cryogenic technology to ship life sciences products, such as stem cells.
