By Bill Berkrot
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Generic drugmaker Mylan Inc's (O:MYL) chief executive said on Thursday that acquiring Perrigo Co (N:PRGO) was not a must and that it had other options should Perrigo successfully fend off Mylan's $34 billion hostile offer.
"There are alternatives to Perrigo. We believe Perrigo is the right first step. We like Perrigo, but we don't have to have Perrigo," CEO Heather Bresch said during a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss quarterly results
"We've been actively looking at many targets out there," she said.
Bresch made it clear that getting the Perrigo deal done remains the company's top priority, but said there are many ways to grow the business and attain its goal of becoming a leading consolidator in the generic drugs industry.
"Perrigo accelerates that for us," she said. "We believe there's a lot of different assets that can get us there. There are things for sale all over the globe."
Bresch mentioned U.S. products that would increase a drug dosage form or add a therapeutic category, smaller bolt-on acquisitions that could enhance the infrastructure it has in place, assets in Europe that would complement the business it acquired from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) that enabled Mylan to reincorporate in the Netherlands, and other lines of over-the-counter products.
Mylan, which since April had been actively fighting a takeover attempt by larger rival Teva Pharmaceutical (ARCA:TEVA) Industries (TA:TEVA), got its wish to remain independent when Teva last week decided instead to buy Allergan's (N:AGN) generics business for $40.5 billion.
By acquiring Ireland-based Perrigo, Mylan would pick up over-the-counter consumer products, a line of generic topical medicines and animal health treatments.
Mylan shares were down 46 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $54.14 on Nasdaq.