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Pfizer To Reorganize After Allergan Buyout, With Saunders President

Big pharma Pfizer ( PFE ) announced Monday that after it closes its acquisition of Allergan ( AGN ) it plans to reorganize its three units into two, pending a possible split-up. Back in 2013, Pfizer reorganized its operations into three business units: Innovative Products; Established Products and Vaccines; and Oncology and Consumer Healthcare (VOC). This was widely viewed as a preparation for a split-up of the company. With its pending $160 billion buyout of Allergan,  Pfizer will be adding a large number of drugs, including the wrinkle treatment Botox and a variety of eye-care and skin-care products. On Monday, Pfizer said it plans to combine the innovative products and VOC businesses into one, but that will include a new subdivision called Global Specialty and Consumer Brands that will include most of Allergan’s products. The larger Innovative Products business will be headed by current VOC head Albert Bourla, replacing Geno Germano who will leave the company. The new Global Specialty and Consumer Brands division will be headed by Allergan executive Bill Meury. The Established Products business will continue to be led by John Young. Allergan’s current CEO Brenton Saunders, meanwhile, is set to become the next president and chief operating officer of Pfizer. It was generally expected on Wall Street that he would land a high-ranking position so that he could be ready to succeed present Pfizer CEO Ian Read. When Pfizer announced the Allergan buyout last year, it said that a decision on a split-up will not be made until 2018, which was a couple of years later than previously expected. Read reiterated this in Monday’s announcement. “We are designing the combined company to preserve and enhance our option to potentially separate the innovative and established businesses into separate companies in the future, and continue to expect to make a decision about any potential separation by no later than the end of 2018,” Read said in a statement. Pfizer stock was down about 1.8% in midday trading on the stock market today , near 28.50. Allergan was down about 3.6% near 264.

Gilead Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates; Guidance In Line With Street

Big biotech Gilead Sciences ( GILD ) beat analysts’ Q4 estimates Tuesday but its guidance was soft, sending the stock up more than 1% in after-hours trading, in a day when several large drugmakers reported. Gilead’s earnings rose 37% over the year-earlier quarter to $3.32 per share, topping analysts’ EPS consensus by 32 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue increased 16% to $8.51 billion, vs. analysts’ expectation of $8.13 billion. For the full year, EPS rose 56% to $12.61 while revenue gained 31% to $32.64 billion. Gilead guided 2016 product sales, which covers nearly all revenue, at $30 billion to $31 billion. Analysts had expected $30.68 billion in product sales and total revenue of $31.68 billion. Gilead does not provide total revenue or EPS guidance, but it did provide guidance on expenses, which were slightly above expectations on the R&D and sales, general and administrative lines. Evercore ISI analyst Mark Schoenebaum calculated that the implied EPS guidance for 2016 is $10.48 to $11.92, which would miss consensus of $12.23. In Q4, the hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni both beat estimates, though entirely due to sales outside the U.S., where analysts have less visibility. Next year’s expected revenue decline is due to an anticipated decline in U.S. HCV market, which had an enormous lift-off when the two drugs were approved but has flattened as ever-larger numbers of patients have been cured of the disease. On the conference call with analysts, commercial-operations chief Paul Carter said that they could expect the HCV market in 2016 to behave similarly to how it did in the second half of 2015, essentially flat in the U.S. while growing in foreign markets where it is still being launched. He said that it might see some growth as payers seem to be loosening their restrictions on the drugs, which initially strained their finances due to their high prices and the enormous volume of patients. However, he acknowledged that revenue per patient was likely to fall as less-sick patients came aboard, requiring shorter treatments. Carter also sounded confident about Gilead’s ability to fend off competition, which got a new entrant last week when Merck ‘s ( MRK ) Zepatier was approved last week and priced well below both Gilead’s and AbbVie ‘s ( ABBV ) HCV drugs. “We’re confident our label is very strong, and we’re very much supported by the real-world data we’ve seen since the launch of Harvoni,” Carter said. Earlier in the day, big pharma  Pfizer ( PFE ) said Q4 revenue rose 7% over the year-earlier quarter to $14.05 billion, beating analysts’ consensus by about $45 million. Earnings, excluding one-time items, slipped 2% to 53 cents a share, beating estimates by a penny. For the year, EPS declined 3% to $2.20, while sales slid 2% to $48.85 billion. However, Pfizer’s 2016 profit guidance missed Wall Street’s expectations of $2.20 to $2.30 a share. Analyst Schoenebaum blamed foreign-exchange headwinds. “Excluding a roughly negative $2.3 billion top line ($0.8 billion of top line FX impact due to Venezuela currency impact alone) and $0.16 bottom line impact due to FX, both 2016 top and bottom line guidance would have bracketed the Street,” Schoenebaum wrote in an email. “We spoke with Pfizer, and they believe that the Street underestimated the FX impact in 2016.” S&P Capital IQ analyst Jeffrey Loo raised his rating on Pfizer to buy from hold, saying the valuation has become attractive after it, like almost every other drug stock around, has sold off in recent months. “We view growth within its Global Innovative Products unit positively, driven by Prevnar 13 and Ibrance,” Loo wrote in a research note. “We expect its pending acquisition of Allergan ( AGN ) to be completed in the second half of 2016.” Pfizer stock closed down 0.1% at 30.14. Mallinckrodt ( MNK ) rose 5.7% to close at 65.71, after the specialty drugmaker reported fiscal-first-quarter earnings of $2.09 a share, up 17% from the year-earlier quarter and topping consensus by 31 cents. Sales climbed 19% to $914.8 million, some $25 million above the Street’s average estimate. Mallinckrodt raised its full-year EPS guidance to $7.85 to $8.30, up from $7.70 to $8.20. Baxter International ( BAX ), a leader in dialysis products, also beat expectations in the most recent quarter, pulling off a sharp increase in earnings despite a decline in sales. Fourth quarter profit from continuing operations jumped 54% to 43 cents a share, 11 cents past Wall Street’s consensus. Revenue dropped 7% to $2.6 billion. Baxter stock rose 1.8% Tuesday to close at 37.95. Baxter said it expects EPS this year of $1.46 to $1.54, beating consensus of $1.42. Its forecast for the current quarter was below the Street, however, at 28 to 30 cents.

2016 To Be Year Of Merger Mania In Health Care: PwC

Like the past few years, 2015 was a big year for health care mergers — and for controversy about them. When Pfizer (PFE) agreed to buy Ireland-based Allergan (AGN) last month for $160 billion, it brought new plans from the U.S. Treasury Department and from presidential candidates to curb tax-inversion deals in which U.S. companies relocate to lower-tax countries. Device giant Medtronic (MDT) already did that in June when it acquired Ireland’s