It wasn’t supposed to work out this way for Brent Saunders.
Four years ago, Saunders was the whiz kid of the pharmaceutical set. At 44, he had created a large pharmaceutical firm, then called Actavis, almost by force of will after engineering more than $100 billion in deals in a two-year span. Then he had swooped in to rescue Botox maker Allergan from the nefarious claws of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, an asset-stripping drug company loved by many on Wall Street but no one with a conscience.
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It’s a learning history of up and down in strategic approach in biotechnology industry
Saunders did not “create” Actavis nor did he engineer the Allergan acquisition, Paul Bisaro did. He has however, presided over a enormous destruction in shareholder value. Can’t wait to see the exit package he’s going to get.
Good point. Watson pharma reached a plateau under Dr. Chao. When Paul took over, rapid acquisitions and relocating HQ from California to New Jersey created the Actavis we are familiar with.
Grest review piece!
I enjoy your work
Best
Paul
Actavis buying Iceland’s Actavis then Warner Chilcott and Forest built Actavis into strong company (all Paul Bisaro) but with two sides generic/branded. The Allergan (Inc.) deal looked good at time but Allergan Plc never lived up to “Growth Pharma” hype. Paul Bisaro built nice company and Brent could not grow the much larger disparate brands. The $ from selling generics to TEVA never got re-invested into anything sustainable and value got destroyed. So deal probably best way to salvage a tough couple of years for Allergan’s shareholders. At some point companies become too big to keep growing.