Valeant Looks Past Cephalon For Acquisitions

Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which dropped a $5.7 billion offer for Cephalon earlier this week, will actively pursue other large takeover deals, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

CEO Michael Pearson said the Canadian drug company is looking at acquisitions of all sizes and that Valeant had the financial firepower to do a deal bigger than that of Cephalon.

"We are in active discussions in our different geographies," Pearson told Reuters in an interview.

"Quite frankly, we were in discussions even when this Cephalon thing was going on. There was no guarantee it was going to happen and we understood that," he added.

On Monday, Valeant pulled out of the race to buy Cephalon after Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries agreed to buy the U.S.-based drugmaker for $81.50 a share, topping Valeant's $73-a-share bid.