Month: September 2013

(Reuters) – Forest Laboratories Inc on Tuesday said it named Brent Saunders, the former head of Bausch & Lomb Inc, as chief executive officer to replace its departing long-time leader, Howard Solomon. The move comes after Forest wrangled with billionaire investor Carl Icahn for years and ultimately struck a deal with him that averted a proxy fight this summer. Forest said Saunders would take on the role effective October 1, a bit earlier transition than initially announced in May when the company divulged that Solomon would be leaving at year’s end after his 35-year run at the helm. …

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish private equity firm EQT has agreed to buy Finland’s largest healthcare services company Terveystalo from British peer Bridgepoint, EQT said in a statement on Tuesday. A person familiar with the deal said the price for Terveystalo was around 650 million euros. The person declined to be identified because the figure was not public. Terveystalo operates 18 hospitals and 141 clinics in Finland and employs around 6,300 people. It had sales of 455 million euros in 2012 and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 52.4 million. …

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Commission has approved the first copycat version of an antibody-based drug, clearing the way for increased competition for the makers of multi-billion dollar biotechnology drugs to treat complex diseases. Tuesday’s final green light for Inflectra – which was developed by South Korea’s Celltrion and will be marketed by U.S. company Hospira – had been expected following a European Medicines Agency recommendation in June. …

Winning Hearts with Weak Arguments