GENEVA (AP) — Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG
announced a series of multibillion-dollar deals Tuesday with other major
pharmaceutical companies that it said would reduce sales but boost
profitability, while affecting some 15,000 of its employees globally.
The
Basel, Switzerland-based company said it has agreed to buy
GlaxoSmithKline plc’s cancer-drug business for $14.5 billion, plus up to
$1.5 billion more if certain milestones are met, and to divest most of
its vaccines business to GSK for $7.1 billion, plus royalties.
The
two drugmakers also are creating a new consumer health care business
through a joint venture. It combines Novartis’ over-the-counter drug
business with GSK’s consumer business to create a new entity that would
generate $10 billion a year in revenue. Novartis would own 36.5 percent
of the new business, focusing on pain management, coughs and colds and
dermatology.
All the deals between Novartis and GSK are timed to close simultaneously.
Separately, Novartis said it will sell off its animal health division to U.S.-based Eli Lilly &
Co. for about $5.4 billion.
In
a statement, Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez said the deals mark "a
transformational moment" for the company by refocusing its business
around three core strengths: innovative drugs, eye care and generics.
"They also improve our financial strength, and are expected to add to our growth rates and margins
immediately," he said.
The
oncology business that Novartis is picking up from GSK had revenue of
$1.6 billion and a 20 percent growth rate last year, Jimenez told
reporters in a conference call.
And the Swiss company said its flu
business, which is not part of the sale to U.K.-based GSK, would be
divested in another pending deal, but it did not provide more specifics.
Taken
together, the deals will reduce Novartis’ sales by about $4 billion,
from $60 billion down to $56 billion, Jimenez said, but the company’s
"absolute profit goes up and that’s partly because we’re acquiring the
oncology products and we are divesting products that have lower profit."
The
transactions affect some 15,000 of the company’s 135,000 employees
globally, he said, and "they will move with the divestitures or into
that joint venture."
Jimenez, however, said Novartis won’t fire
anyone. All Novartis employees whose units are being sold off "will be
fully transferred to the new owners," he said.
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