US drugmaker AbbVie’s $63 billion tie-up with Allerganis getting help from Nestle and AstraZeneca buying up products the Irish-domiciled company is shedding to placate regulators.
According to Reuters,AbbVie is swallowing Allergan to give it control of the lucrative wrinkle treatment Botox and to diversify a portfolio heavily dependent on its $19-billion-per-year arthritis drug Humira, the world’s best-selling medicine that is advancing toward US patent expiration.
Swiss food group Nestle bulked up its medical nutrition business with Allergan’s Zenpep, a product with 2018 sales of $237 million which treats people whose pancreases do not provide enough enzymes to digest fats, proteins and sugars.
Nestle did not give financial details, but analysts from Zuercher Kantonalbank estimated the takeover could have cost the Vevey, Switzerland-based company more than $1 billion.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca is regaining rights to brazikumab, Allergan’s experimental drug against Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis. The European Commission said this month the immunology medicine must be divested because of the risk its development would be halted after AbbVie’s takeover because of competing medicines.
“These definitive agreements represent significant progress toward the completion of our acquisition of Allergan,” Richard Gonzalez, AbbVie’s chairman and chief executive, said.
