Mr. Frazier is clearly right that his careful capital management over the years has Kenilworth in the driver's seat now, should it decide it wants to snap up a few of these "add on" acquisition candidates in 2016.
I might argue that this puts him (and Merck) in a better near term strategic position than Ian Read, over at Pfizer -- as Mr. Read is likely to be so tied up trying to clear the manifold regulatory authorities, on his single mega "re-domicile" deal, that Merck might just be able to start stealing franchises, here, one by one. Mr. Frazier's strategy for 2016 certainly presents a much smaller execution risk than Mr. Read's, in my view.
We shall see. But here is a bit, from Reuters, at Davos, Switzerland, last week:
. . . .U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co is eager to do deals to bring in promising experimental medicines and believes a recent correction in biotechnology stocks should throw up new opportunities.
"Prices have come back somewhat. That is a positive thing," Chief Executive Kenneth Frazier told Reuters in Davos on Friday.
"In particular, some of the early-stage companies are struggling to get the next round of financing as people start to be a little less willing to pay for the promise of growth, so that gives us opportunities. . . ."
"At our size, I would say a $10 billion or $20 billion deal would qualify as a bolt-on," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting. . . .
We will keep you posted. Meanwhile, here in Chicago, we feel the pain of our East Coast shovel crews -- but for once, we are kicking our heels up, and sipping our coffee and OJ -- free from that chore. We do feel for you Mike -- truly. Smile.
4 comments:
Any thoughts on potential targets?
Hmmm. I employ only public information here Anon., so mine would be pure guesses.
I do expect immuno-oncology to be a continuing focus.
That said, if I could pick 'em, I'd be on Wall Street. . . Not here.
Thanks! And do stop back. . .
-- Namaste
Targets? Nasdaq-listed Benitec Biopharma
Ahem. Maybe the Anon. Commenter above meant BeiGene, Ltd:
". . .BeiGene is a globally focused biopharmaceutical company dedicated to becoming a leader in the discovery and development of innovative, molecularly targeted and immuno-oncology drugs for the treatment of cancer. BeiGene believes the next generation of cancer treatment will utilize therapeutics both as monotherapy and in combination to attack multiple underlying mechanisms of cancer cell growth and survival. BeiGene further believes that discovery of next-generation cancer therapies requires new research tools. To that end, BeiGene has developed a proprietary cancer biology platform that addresses the importance of tumor-immune system interactions and the value of primary biopsies in developing new models to support our drug discovery effort. . . ."
Interesting -- Merck is in now, for over 10 per cent of the outstandings. We will track it.
Namaste!
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