Allergan completes its restructuring, accelerates in China

by Matthias Blamont

PARIS (Reuters) – Allergan intends to hire 200 additional people this year in China, where the manufacturer of Botox will also be on the lookout for potential acquisitions, said on Friday to Reuters Marc Princen, its executive vice president of the international.

The u.s. pharmaceutical laboratory is about to complete a restructuring that resulted in the departure of over a thousand employees, more than 5% of the workforce, to cope with falling revenues due to competition experienced by its second flagship product, the eye drops Restasis, dry eye.

Allergan aims to achieve approximately $ 500 million of annual sales in China by 2022, said Marc Princen in an interview to Reuters on the sidelines of the congress of dermatology, cosmetic and aesthetic (IMCAS) in Paris.

The group has generated approximately $ 180 million of revenue in China last year, he added.

“For the hour, 80% of our turnover is made in the United States and overseas 20%. Over the next five years, we will move from 20% to 30%,” said Marc Princen.

“The emphasis will be placed on the high potential markets, for example China. We have hired 300 people there in 2017, and we have increased our sales by 60%. We’ll hire 200 people this year,” he detailed.

Marc Princen said his team had identified 12 key markets outside of the United States. Among them are China, Brazil, Russia and european countries such as France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

“I really believe in the potential of continental Europe for example. We may have a double-digit growth in doing what it takes. At this time, in Europe, we have a growth of around 7% to 8%, it will grow…”, he estimated.

Allergan, which has recently bought Zeltiq Aesthetics to 2.48 billion dollars, has the means to grow organically, but other acquisitions will be considered, pursued the leader.

“What we are not going to do : mega-operations, it, one will not do”, he said. “But we will buy the products still in the early stages, we will develop and market ; the more they will be close to the launch the better it will be,” he added without further clarification.

Allergan is required to publish its annual results on 6 February.

(Dominique Rodriguez for French service, edited by Benoît Van Overstraeten)