When Your Sales Drop 19% YOY Buy Pipeline Assets

Baron Nathan Rothschild famously told clients "buy when there is blood in the streets, even if its your own."

AZ CEO Pascal Seriot seems to have taken this to heart.  He told reporters after the company reported a huge 19% drop in its sales for the latest quarter, "One of the critical things we need to do in the mid-term is to bolster our pipeline and that will rely on business development activities, there is no question about it."

As a result, AZ squashed a plan to buyback its own stock.  In the near past, it licensed rights to Amylin's diabetes portfolio, and partnered with Ironwood on that company's drug linaclotide in China. It licensed Ardelyx's CKD drug for $272 M, bought Ardea and signed a deal with Regulus. 

Now it is rumored to be lookng to buy Amarin, and has been linked to possible purchases of Forest Laboratories and Shire. The Baron might be proud should this come to pass. See Fierce Biotech.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Oct 28th 2012.