At last things appear to be going right for Lundbeck. News that the Danish group had grasped the nettle and bought private US company Ovation Pharmaceuticals for up to $900m to help beef up its US presence and start to fill the pipeline gaps that will be left by patent expiries, caused its shares to rise by 7% today to a 12-month high of DKr134.
The acquisition appears to have gone some way to restore investors’ faith in the company’s ability to deliver on its promises. Since his arrival 10 months ago Lundbeck chief executive, Ulf Wiinberg, has made it clear that he was looking for either a company or products to help manage the patent expiry of anti-depressant Cipralex and Ebixa for Alzheimer's disease. Last year, the two drugs accounted for 85% of company's sales, making finding replacements for them of paramount importance.
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