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Pills & Co Essay

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PILLS & CO

1. Identify potential sources of synergy in the proposed acquisition of Star Genomics. Identify a set of problems that the acquisition may create. How can Pills & Co. address them? From the strategic viewpoint, does it appear to be a sensible acquisition for Pills & Co.?

Pills & Co is a pharmaceutical company that has over 100 years of history, over 57,000 employees and annual sales of $28 billion in 2010. Pills & Co concentration has been broad, researching a wide array of diseases. They have recently realigned their focus to the top 10 “priority diseases”. Star Genomics is a biotech company with less than 10 years of history. They have less than 50 employees, require public support and grants …show more content…

Star Genomics has licensing and support from specific research Universities which means that they have new cutting edge methodologies. Research Universities have public support and grants in addition to having a willingness to take risks.
There would also be a couple of synergies for Star Genomics. The first being the deep pockets of Pills & Co. Furthermore, Star Genomics would benefit more at the later stages of a new products development. Biotech companies do not have the sales, marketing and supply chain support as a large pharmaceutical.
Any reward does have its risks. I can foresee a few problems with an acquisition. Besides the fact that we’ve told that over 70% of mergers and acquisitions fail, we also know that sometimes payback on any acquisition can be long (10 years). Additionally, there can be some negative effects on R&D because of cultural differences between corporations. As is with any M&A, due diligence, integration planning and execution are the keys to any success.
From a strategic viewpoint, it is my belief that Pills & Co should make a play to purchase Star Genomics for these reasons: * No foreseeable new product in pipeline. Currently takes up to 11,000 compounds to be screened to find one (1) compound to send through final testing (human trials). And even then it’s not guaranteed to make it past the FDA. * Top sales producers will be losing patent

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