Sector News

Categories

Borderless Insights

Image
The Skills-Forward Revolution:   Stretching the Boundaries of Professional Flexibility
Image
Sustainability: Business Leaders Must Secure the Long-Term Strategy Despite Short-Term Pressures
Image
Negotiating Terms with a New Employer

Bigger pharma may be scraping for good deals, but Horizon has plenty of options, analysts say

June 29, 2015
Life sciences
Horizon Pharma isn’t exactly the only specialty pharma company hunting for deals. Allergan, Mallinckrodt, Endo and the ever-acquisitive Valeant have all been on shopping sprees lately, leaving some analysts wondering just what’s left worth buying in the space. But Horizon is much smaller than its specialty peers–meaning it’s got plenty of opportunities, UBS analysts figure.
 
In a research report seen by Investor’s Business Daily, UBS’ Marc Goodman and Ami Fadia pointed out that Horizon–with a market cap just over $5 billion–is at least $9 billion smaller than other on-the-prowl specialty pharmas, meaning it’s “playing in a different sandbox.”
 
Because of its track record and balance sheet, Horizon “has hit the radar of more potential sellers of assets,” leading the analysts to up both their price target on the company’s stock and their revenue estimates.
 
That’s music to the ears of CEO Timothy Walbert, who has said he’s building up Horizon’s leadership and infrastructure “to support a larger organization,” the UBS analysts wrote. Recently, that’s involved foraying into the orphan-drug business with a pickup of osteoporosis treatment Actimmune–and following that up with May’s $1.1 billion acquisition of orphan drugmaker Hyperion.
 
And while it may have once looked like Horizon would need new offerings to fill in for Vimovo and Duexis–a pair of flagship products Express Scripts and CVS booted off their preferred formulary lists last year–sales of those drugs have held up, IBD notes, meaning pickups can only boost things further. The analysts credit that to the company’s “prescriptions made easy” sales method, one they say is “really the key differentiating piece for Horizon.”
 
By Carly Helfand
 

comments closed

Related News

September 7, 2024

UAE MoHAP and Novo Nordisk partner for obesity management

Life sciences

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has established a partnership with Novo Nordisk Pharma Gulf focusing on the creation of a national scientific guide for obesity management and weight control. The collaboration also aims to enhance public awareness of cardiovascular diseases and their complications.

Read more
September 7, 2024

Lilly partners with Haya for lncRNA obesity target deal worth $1bn

Life sciences

Pharma giant Eli Lilly is teaming up with Haya Therapeutics in a $1bn deal to find multiple regulatory-genome-derived RNA-based drug targets, as it eyes up new targets in obesity. Under the deal, the companies will use Haya’s proprietary regulatory genome discovery platform to identify and validate long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) targets for developing potential treatments for obesity and related metabolic disorders.

Read more
September 7, 2024

Ashland completes sale of nutraceuticals business

Life sciences

The sale includes custom formulation and contract manufacturing capabilities for the nutrition market from the production facilities in New Jersey and Utah in the United States, and Tamaulipas, Mexico. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Read more
More news