HansGarrincha schreef op 10 december 2015 14:37:
December 7, 2015 12:09 pm
Cash-rich Gilead hits acquisition trail
David Crow in New York
Gilead, the US biotech company behind the most lucrative drug launch yet, is on the hunt for acquisitions as it seeks another blockbuster, the group’s chief scientist told the Financial Times.
Since Gilead launched its hepatitis C drugs at the tail-end of 2013, the medicines have earned the group about $27bn in revenue, thanks in part to its contentious decision to implement a list price that works out at about $1,000 a pill. But many analysts think that sales have peaked, because the treatment is so effective that patients do not need to keep taking it.
“People ask, ‘What are you going to do with all your money?’?” Norbert Bischofberger, executive vice-president of research and development, said in an interview. “Well, we have our eye on the external world — we have incredible cash flows and we are looking for opportunities.”
Mr Bischofberger said that Gilead was looking particularly for target companies that have drugs that are already proven to work in early-stage trials. Such groups tend to be more expensive but they carry a much lower risk of failing later on.
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Analysts say companies in this category typically fetch upwards of $10bn, a pricetag that Gilead could easily pay, given that it recently raised $10bn of debt and has a net cash position of $15bn.
Mr Bischofberger said that Gilead would prefer to find a target that was “complementary” to its unit that focuses on liver diseases such as hepatitis C, although he said that such a company could be “difficult to find”.
“In the end, we wouldn’t be opposed to making an investment in something completely different,” he added.
As well as units focused on HIV and liver diseases, the company also makes drugs for blood cancers and is investigating a range of drugs to treat cardiovascular illnesses, respiratory conditions
and inflammation.