(Reuters) - Drugmaker AbbVie Inc said on Tuesday it would buy Botox-maker Allergan Plc for about $63 billion, grabbing control of the biggest name in medical aesthetics to help reduce its reliance on blockbuster arthritis treatment Humira.
AbbVie has been under pressure to diversify its portfolio as Humira, the world’s best-selling drug, is already in competition with cheaper versions in Europe and faces expiration of its patents in 2023 in the United States, its most important market.
Humira, which brought in revenue of about $20 billion last year, reported the first fall in quarterly sales in years in the January-March period.
AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez said the company was well positioned to buy Allergan because of the massive amount of cash that Humira generates.
“Humira is buying the assets that replace it over the long term,” said Gonzalez, who will lead the combined company and remain chairman and chief executive through 2023.
Allergan Chief Executive Officer Brent Saunders, who put together the current version of his company through a series of deals to roll up several pharmaceutical firms in 2014, will join AbbVie’s board upon completion of the deal.
Saunders built his reputation as a dealmaker, but Allergan has struggled since Pfizer Inc walked away from a $160 billion deal in 2016. Allergan’s shares have lost around half their value since then.
He has been under pressure over the last year to break up or sell the company, with activist investor David Tepper running a campaign to urge Allergan to hire an independent chairman.
Investors have also questioned Saunders’ growth plans beyond acquisitions and the quality of the company’s drug pipeline.
On a conference call, Gonzalez said the deal was not a pipeline-driven transaction, and AbbVie executives downplayed the role Allergan’s
