Category:

Allergan shareholders got all riled up for nothing…Shares of the Botox maker sank 2.8 percent on Thursday as fears that the U.S. Treasury Department was about to get tougher on inversions outweighed the news that Pfizer was preparing a nearly $200 billion bid for the company. The department's new guidelines -- announced after the market close -- turned out not to be such a body blow after all…the proposed changes just fine tune the steps already taken by the Treasury last year to make it harder and less appealing for companies to use acquisitions that move their legal address abroad for tax benefits. There was nothing groundbreaking -- and most importantly, nothing that should significantly derail a Pfizer inversion…Cue Allergan shares making up their losses and then some on Friday…The latest guidelines do make it incrementally harder to structure inversions and remove some economic benefits, but the handicaps only apply to transactions in which the U.S. company's investors wind up with between 60 percent and 80 percent of the combined entity. Pfizer already knew that was dangerous territory; those were the types of inversions targeted by the Treasury last year. By structuring its Allergan purchase as an all-stock deal with a high premium, Pfizer could be able to skirt the tougher rules.

Obama administration stepped up its attack on corporate tax inversions…announcing new rules designed to block U.S. firms from trying to cut their tax bills by reincorporating overseas…Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, whose agency imposed initial rules restricting inversions last year, said tougher restrictions were needed because U.S. firms "are taking advantage of an environment that allows them to move their tax residence overseas in order to avoid paying taxes in the United States without making significant changes in the nature of their overall business operations."..The new restrictions will:

• Limit the ability of U.S. companies to combine with foreign firms when the new overseas parent is a tax resident of a third country.
• Restrict U.S. firms from inflating the size of the new foreign corporate parent, and thereby avoid the current rule that requires the former owners of the U.S. firm to own less than 80% of the newly combined entity.
• Strengthen the current law that enables U.S. companies to complete inversions if, after the transaction, at least 25% of the combined new entity's business activity occurs in the country where that company has tax residency. The change would block inversions unless the new foreign parent is a tax resident of the overseas country where it was created or organized.

The three changes apply to inversion deals closed Thursday and in the future.

Sick of watching those scary, sad drug ads during the the game? So is the American Medical Association…The AMA's declaration that it would seek curbs on the ability of pharmaceutical companies to market prescription drugs… The Tuesday vote by the AMA, one of the world's largest medical trade groups, to lobby Congress as well as the Food and Drug Administration could all but eliminate a key source of ad revenue for network TV companies, including 21st Century Fox , CBS and Disney, already pressured by the success of streaming services led by Netflix, Amazon Prime and Alphabet's YouTube…It could also force changes to the fundamental marketing model of Big Pharma, which commands its own immense lobby. While pharmaceutical companies have lines of lobbyists to call on, so does the American Medical Association…"It's a large and powerful group,"…"A change like this would be a long process…and there would be freedom of speech issues, but it could certainly have an impact down the road."…Direct-to-consumer ads for drugs -- which are illegal in most Western countries -- are extremely popular in the U.S. Advertising dollars spent by pharmaceutical companies have increased 30% since 2013 to $4.5 billion domestically...

A judge has imposed severe sanctions on Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center for intentionally concealing evidence in a civil case filed by a patient who was sexually assaulted at the Las Vegas hospital in 2008…"Centennial failed to disclose relevant evidence that it knew it had a duty to disclose, caused extensive time to pass, and caused memories to fade," District Judge Richard Scotti wrote in a 39-page order…strikes Centennial's answer in the case — a move that establishes liability against the hospital. When the case goes to trial Jan. 4, Centennial will be allowed to defend itself only on the question of damages…"A party who engages in misconduct must suffer reasonable consequences," the judge wrote. "No party should be allowed to conceal evidence, and then suffer merely a monetary sanction, while being allowed to reap the tactical benefit of the loss of that evidence."…The plaintiff, who filed the case in 2009 as Jane Doe, was one of five female patients who were victimized by certified nursing assistant Steven Farmer.

Pfizer was due to secure formal board approval on Sunday for its acquisition of Botox maker Allergan for more than $150 billion, making it the healthcare sector's largest deal ever...The deal would involve Pfizer paying with 11.3 of its shares for each Allergan share...There will also be a small cash component, accounting for less than 10 percent of the value of the deal...Pfizer's Chief Executive Ian Read…will be CEO of the combined company, with Allergan's CEO Brent Saunders…serving in a very senior role focused on operations and the integration…It would be the biggest merger of the year, topping beer maker Anheuser-Busch InBev's proposed $107 billion takeover of SABMiller Plc. And it would realize Read's longtime ambition of an "inversion" deal that would get Pfizer out from under the 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate, among the world's highest. The tax rate in Ireland is 12.5 percent…U.S. Treasury last year, and again last week, updated its rules on inversions to make it harder for companies to avoid U.S taxes by moving overseas. But experts have said these moves would do little to prevent Pfizer from inverting.

Pfizer Inc's talks to acquire Allergan Plc in a $150 billion deal that would see the U.S. drug giant redomicile in Ireland accelerated… as the U.S. Treasury prepared to clamp down further on such tax inversions… While negotiations have made progress in recent days, an agreement is not imminent and its timing remains uncertain following the Treasury's disclosure that it would seek to tighten the rules on inversions…Inversions typically involve a U.S. multinational buying a smaller foreign competitor and relocating to its home country, if only on paper, to escape U.S. taxation. Ireland is a common destination. Management usually stays in the United States…

Merck KGaA has been turning to emerging markets to deliver a much-needed boost to business, targeting China and Latin America as areas ripe for growth. Now the German pharma is turning its sails toward Africa, planning to expand its presence on the continent over the next 5 years…Merck KGaA wants to double its workforce and sales in Africa by 2020, drawing on the region's "entrepreneurial spirit and innovation power" to drive growth…the company…has about 400 employees in 10 African countries and will increase this number to about 1,000. The drugmaker's sales on the continent will climb to €500 million ($534 million) by 2020 from €200 million in 2015…

Upper West Side clerk and manager defy company policy, decline Israel passport and license…Dov Bergwerk arrived at the Avis branch on West 76th Street and Broadway (New York)…a senior vice president and general corporate counsel at the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva, got out his driver’s license, reservation number and “Wizard” loyalty card – he’s rented from Avis dozens of times before…A reservation agent…declined to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation, saying that it was company policy not to recognize Israeli documents. Stunned, Mr. Bergwerk explained that he had rented from Avis many times, including a car from that very same office on Thursday, November 19 – only two days earlier…a manager…took the side of her reservation agent, also refusing to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation or recognize his documents…Mr. Bergwerk called the Avis main number and got through to customer service. The representative confirmed to him that the Israeli license was an acceptable form of ID and also mentioned that he could show his passport to ameliorate any ID concerns the on-site employees…the customer service representative…now claimed that she was declining to rent the Bergwerks a car not because of the insufficient documents but because Mr. Bergwerk had “argued about the way I was being treated in front of other customers,” according to Mr. Bergwerk.

The initial fallout from the Valeant-Philidor kerfuffle has hit the pharmacy industry. Over the past few weeks, the major pharmacy benefit managers have begun dropping pharmacies from their networks. Some PBMs are also reminding retail pharmacies that they are prohibited from acting as mail pharmacies…I highlight the high-profile network pruning by the top three PBMs—Express Scripts, the Caremark PBM business of CVS Health, and the OptumRx business of UnitedHealthcare. I also speculate on the factors that would lead a PBM to clash with a pharmacy in its network…An as-yet-unanswered question: If PBMs routinely monitor their networks, why did it take a highly publicized pharmacy meltdown before PBMs finally cracked down?

...newest pharmacy location, Campus Pharmacy West, is...located next to...Las Vegas Patient Care Center on Charleston Blvd., just west of I-15...(next to the School of Medicine's Patient Care Center; 1701 W. Charleston Blvd., Suite 100; 702-992-6906)...Pharmacist Lawrence Coleman, R.Ph....serves as an excellent resource for both patients and practitioners dealing with medication management and best practices in pharmaceutical care....