Upjohn/Mylan Merger Closes to Form Viatris
Pfizer has completed the spin-off of its Upjohn Business and combined it with Mylan to form Viatris, which began trading on Nov. 17. On closure of the deal, Pfizer stockholders owned about 57% of the outstanding shares of Viatris common stock and Mylan shareholders owned roughly 43%.
Viatris is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, with global centers also in Shanghai, China, and Hyderabad, India. It employs about 45,000 people and has a portfolio of more than 1,400 approved molecules, including iconic brands, generic medicines, biosimilars and over-the-counter consumer products, across a wide variety of therapeutic areas.
“We believe our combined commercial capabilities and diverse portfolio across geographies will enable us to strengthen our ability to reach more customers and patients,” said Viatris president Rajiv Malik.
First announced in July 2019, the merger was touted as creating a pharmaceutical giant, with expected revenues of up to $20 billion in 2020. The deal was cleared by European regulators in April 2020 after the two companies agreed to sell certain Mylan generic drugs across 20 countries in the EU and UK.
US antitrust approval was granted in October provided that the firms sold assets related to several Upjohn products, including spironolactone HCTZ tablets for treating high blood pressure and edema, as well as Mylan’s high blood pressure tablets, eplerenone.
The combined entity will now undertake a “significant” global restructuring program to achieve synergies of $1 billion. Viatris is currently defining the program’s parameters and expects to disclose further details by the end of the year. It noted, however, that it expects key actions to cut the company’s cost base through rationalizing its global manufacturing and supply network as well as optimizing its functional and commercial capabilities.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
