Mylan, Pfizer Subsidiary Strike Deal to Create New Pharmaceutical Company

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Mylan Pharmaceuticals and a division of Pfizer have announced a deal that will create a new pharmaceutical company expected to bring in $19 billion-$20 billion in annual revenue. 

According to a news release, Mylan and Upjohn, the Pfizer subsidiary, hosted a Monday morning conference call with investors.

Aside from producing a wide variety of branded generic pharmaceuticals, Mylan is known for producing the EpiPen. Upjohn’s brand portfolio includes Zoloft, Xanax and Viagra.

Under the terms of the deal, which is to be structured as an all-stock, Reverse Morris Trust transaction, each Mylan share would be converted into one share of the new company.

Pfizer shareholders would own 57 percent of the combined new company, and Mylan shareholders would own 43 percent.

Current Mylan chairman Robert J. Coury will serve as executive chairman of the new company. Upjohn president Michael Goettler will serve as CEO and Rajiv Malik, current Mylan president, will serve as president. 

Ken Parks, currently CFO of Mylan, has agreed to depart the company at closing. Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, who is the 50-year-old daughter of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, will retire as part of the deal.

Also Monday, Mylan announced an earnings report for the second quarter of 2019. The company reported total revenues of $2.85 billion, which it says is up two percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

Mylan was founded in 1951 as a drug distribution company based in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

More than 3,000 people work at the company’s current Morgantown facilities. The company laid off more than 400 Morgantown employees — or about 15 percent of its operations there — in April 2018.

Mylan has not yet returned requests for comment about the future of its West Virginia operations. 

The as-of-yet named new company, which is expected to be finalized in mid-2020, will be incorporated in Delaware and run operations from Pittsburgh, Shanghai and Hyderabad, India.