| Charles River Goes Global With Largest Ever Foreign Takeover of Chinese Company The Burrill Report submits: By Michael FitzhughClinical research group Charles River (CRL) is expanding its Asian footprint with a $1.6 billion purchase of WuXi PharmaTech (WX), a key player in China's thriving drug development market. It will be the largest foreign takeover of a Chinese company, according to Bloomberg. Charles River will pay a premium to WuXi shareholders of 28 percent over the company's April 23 closing share price of $16.57 and is expected to help Charles River achieve pre-tax savings of $20 million annually through operating efficiencies, the company says. If both company's shareholders approve the deal, it is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2010. “This transaction revolutionizes the contract research landscape by creating the only global contract research organization, or CRO, to offer fully integrated research and drug development services from molecule creation to first-in-human testing,” says James Foster, president and CEO of Charles River. The deal allows the Wilmington, Massachusetts company to immediately expand its presence in China while helping Shanghai's WuXi accelerate its good laboratory practice toxicology capabilities, says Ge Li, WuXi's CEO. Li will become a corporate EVP and president of global discovery and China services for Charles River. “We have to be very close to our clients, particularly in our research model business. So proximity is a competitive advantage,” Foster told investors at Barclays Capital Global Healthcare Conference in March, about a year after his company expanded to Shanghai. “We're quite confident that China is going to be an important and large growth market for us and the life sciences industry generally,” he said. In 2009, companies including Genzyme (GENZ), Roche (RHHBY.PK), Merck Serono and Lonza (LZAGF.PK) proved that point by spending millions on building Chinese R&D centers.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Judge Clears Health Deal A judge approved a $712 million health settlement for thousands of emergency workers who responded after the Sept. 11 attack, in spite of objections from some who complained that the deal was unfair. online.wsj.com |
St. Jude Earnings Climb On Heart-Rhythm Devices St. Jude Medical posted a 16% climb in second-quarter earnings and raised its full-year forecast, backed by sales gains in a heart-rhythm devices business. online.wsj.com |
Genomic Health to Present at Two Upcoming Investor Conferences [PR Newswire] - Genomic Health, Inc. today announced that members of its management team will present at the following conferences in September: us.rd.yahoo.com |
Alexza Pharmaceuticals: Hold, Sell, Or Put? Rockford Coscia submits:Next week we kick off an extremely exciting October for biotech investors with the PDUFA date for Alexza’s (ALXA) AZ-004 inhalable loxapine treatment for agitation associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Generally, I avoid PDUFA dates unless my due diligence is particularly up to snuff. This is responsible investing; if you don’t know at least as much as the average investor on a particular stock, you’re really just gambling. However, I’ve abandoned the idea of 'never hold through a PDUFA date'.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |