Allergan: Not Just a Pretty Face

Executive Summary

Moving from an ophthalmic company with lackluster earnings selling both devices and drugs for the eye, four years ago, Allergan brought in a new CEO to turn around the company. To profit from higher margin businesses, he has refocused Allergan as a specialty pharmaceutical company. Allergan hopes to profit from advantages that its peers in specialty pharmaceuticals don't possess; a great deal of cash generated by Botox, (already a $400 million product), a top-rated sales force, and an internal R&D capability that has a history of bringing to market products in-licensed at early stages. Allergan isn't nearly big enough to compare the breadth of its discovery operations or development pipeline to Big Pharma. Management must provide strategic focus to a mid-sized pharmaceutical company working in multiple non-overlapping markets.