Thursday, July 11, 2019
U.S. reaches next opioid settlement for $1.4B
Reckitt Benckiser (OTCPK:RBGLY) has agreed to pay up to $1.4B to resolveall U.S. federal investigations into the sales and marketing of an opioid addiction treatment, called Suboxone Film, by its former pharmaceuticals subsidiary Indivior (OTCPK:INVVY).
“$1.4B is materially larger than the $400M RB had previously provisioned and represents about 2% of its market cap. On the other hand, this settlement removes some uncertainty from the investment case,” Credit Suisse analyst Alan Erskine said.
Reckitt shares advanced 2.5% in London on the news.
Gilead picks site for western China operations
Smith & Nephew’s Novostitch shows effectiveness in meniscal tear study
Results from a U.S. study, STITCH, evaluating Smith & Nephew’s (NYSE:SNN) NOVOSTITCH Meniscal Repair System in 30 patients with horizontal cleavage tears demonstrated its effectiveness. At month 6, there were no re-operations and all patients experienced meniscal healing (no visible defect during needle biopsy).
Horizontal tears comprise about 1/3 of meniscal tear injuries.
White House kills drug rebate proposal
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and other healthcare players are up premarket in reaction to the Trump administration’s reversal on its proposed overhaul of rebates collected by the drug middlemen.
At this juncture, the administration is moving forward with its plan to tie Medicare reimbursement for drugs to the lowest prices paid elsewhere. President Trump is expected to use an executive order to implement.
Selected tickers: UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) (+3%), CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) (+5%), Cigna (NYSE:CI) (+9%), Humana (NYSE:HUM) (+2%), Centene (NYSE:CNC) (+3%), Anthem (NYSE:ANTM) (+1%), AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) (+1%), Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) (+3%), McKesson (NYSE:MCK) (+3%), Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) (+3%), AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) (+1%)
Agilent to acquire BioTek for $1.165B
Agilent (NYSE:A) has agreed to acquire privately held BioTek Instruments for $1.165B ($1.05B net with anticipated tax benefits).
The Winooski-VT-based life sciences gear maker generated $162M in revenues in fiscal 2018 and is expected to grow its top line 10% this year.
The deal should close in Q4. Agilent expects the transaction to be add $0.02 – 0.04 to non-GAAP EPS in fiscal 2020 and growing thereafter.
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