Winners and Losers in the New Elan-J&J Deal

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Johnson & Johnson and Elan have altered their deal to exclude the Biogen drug Tysabri from their pact. J&J will now pay $885 million and for 18.4 percent of Elan, plus $500 million for its Alzheimer’s drugs, including bapineuzumab. That acquisition will be the basis of a new J&J unit, Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy.

The move was predicted by BNET yesterday. Here are the winners and losers in the deal:

Winner: Elan. It started with a deal worth $1.5 billion to include MS drug Tysabri and ended with a deal worth $1.4 billion, minus Tysabri — just 7.7 percent less.

Loser: J&J. The company just paid $1.4 billion so Elan and Biogen can keep Tysabri, when previously it was willing to pay $1.5 billion to get access to the drug.

Winner: Biogen. Well played, sir!

Loser: Elan.* Yet another chapter goes by in which Elan’s management bungles its valuable portfolio. Wasn’t the addition of Jack Schuler to the board supposed to stop this kind of incompetence?

Winners: Elan shareholders. The stock rose about 23 percent during the course of the litigation.

Losers: Elan’s board of directors. They will probably be sued if investors can make the case that the secret J&J financing deal damaged the company.

Losers: Elan and Biogen.* Hated foes, locked into a contract they cannot escape. Mortal Kombat!

* Yes, they appear in both categories. Depends how you look at it.

Previously:

Tags: Johnson & Johnson, Biogen Idec Inc., Elan, Tysabri, Corporate Governance, Financial Accounting, Investment, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Finance, Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.

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