With its drug delivery revenue up sharply in the first quarter, Ireland's Elan says that investors appear bullish about a planned spin-off of the Elan Drug Technologies unit. Analysts say that the delivery arm could be worth close to a billion dollars. And executives say that this time around they expect to close a deal.
"When we looked at this in 2008, it was more financially driven. We didn't have the financial resources that we now have having done the transaction with Johnson & Johnson," Chief Financial Officer Shane Cooke told a news conference last week. "The focus this time is more on strategic benefits, therefore it is not something you have to do in a certain time frame because of a financial obligation."
Chief Executive Kelly Martin, though, insisted that the numbers have to be right before a sale goes through. "Obviously it doesn't help when we're talking to them (investors) that screens are red with huge, negative numbers."
- read the Reuters story
- here's the report from In-Pharma Technologist