Analysts see pharma industry take-overs in 2015

In 2014, Pfizer raised its offer for AstraZeneca, making what it said was a final effort to bring the giant British drug maker to the negotiating table.

The worth, about $118bn came after AstraZeneca’s rejection of several private and public offers from Pfizer.

Pfizer’s decision to quit the stage had been widely expected after AstraZeneca refused its final offer of 55 pounds a share.

Following the AstraZeneca board’s rejection of the proposal, Pfizer later announced that it no longer intended to make an offer for AstraZeneca. “We continue to believe that our final proposal was compelling and represented full value for AstraZeneca based on the information that was available to us,” said Ian Read, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive.

The merger would have restored Pfizer as the world’s largest drug maker by sales, a position it relinquished to Swiss-based Novartis when billions of dollars in annual revenue evaporated after Lipitor, its top-selling cholesterol fighter began facing generic competition in 2011.

However, stakeholders have opined that more is expected in 2015 from Pfizer Incorporated,  Actavis plc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, GlaxoSmithKline to mention a few in terms of mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare industry.

In 2014, the pharmaceutical industry announced a record of $234bn of acquisitions, which drastically increased from what was obtained in 2013.  In 2014, mergers in the healthcare led to a significant worldwide conquest activity in 2014.

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Analysts say to keep an eye on Pfizer after its $118bn bid for AstraZeneca plc failed last year. Actavis, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and GlaxoSmithKline plc are potential substitute dealers, as is AbbVie Incorporated after it walked away from a more than $50bn take-over of Shire plc in October 2014.

Stakeholders insist that the major place to see positive changes and development is through acquisition especially from major players in the pharmaceutical industry.

However, in a recent development, Pfizer announced that it has acquired a controlling interest in Redvax GmbH, a spin-off from Redbiotec AG, a privately held Swiss biopharmaceutical company, based in Zurich-Schlieren. This transaction provides access to a preclinical human cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine candidate, as well as intellectual property and a technology platform related to a second, undisclosed vaccine programme.

CMV is a herpes virus, infecting 50-90 percent of the adult population, with a majority remaining asymptomatic. A large segment of young adults, especially women of childbearing age who remain CMV negative, are at high risk of CMV infection during pregnancy and of passing the infection on to the unborn child (congenital infection). There are potentially serious and lifelong consequences for babies born with the disease.

The CMV vaccine programme will complement Pfizer’s robust research portfolio of high-quality and life-saving investigational vaccines and place Pfizer among the leaders in CMV research and development.

“We are working to bring innovative vaccines to market that prevent and treat serious diseases. Through the acquisition of the Redvax innovative CMV vaccine platform and expertise, we will seek to develop a vaccine to prevent a difficult disease that can have a devastating and lifelong impact on young children,” said Kathrin Jansen, PhD, senior vice president & CSO vaccine research & early development for Pfizer.

For Christian Schaub, CEO of Redbiotec and managing director of Redvax, “We are pleased to have completed this deal with Pfizer, a global leader in vaccines. This represents an important step toward the development of a much needed vaccine for CMV, a disease that has a devastating impact on children and families. We believe that combining Redvax’s assets with Pfizer’s commitment, expertise and resources will significantly enhance the potential of developing this important vaccine,” he said.