Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) announced that its Elanco animal health business has agreed to acquire the U.S. pet vaccines unit – Vetmedica – and a Fort Dodge, IA-based manufacturing site from German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim for $885 million.
The acquisition of the Vetmedica portfolio of feline, canine and rabies vaccines, as well as several pipeline products, would be a strategic fit for Lilly’s animal health business that makes parasiticides, pain and dermatology medicines for food animals and companion animals.
The acquisition is expected to close early next year, subject to regulatory approvals as well as the closing of Boehringer Ingelheim's asset swap with Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) , which was signed in June this year.
Boehringer Ingelheim is swapping its consumer healthcare business with French drugmaker Sanofi’s Merial animal health business. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2016. (Read: Sanofi Inks Deal to Swap Business with Boehringer Ingelheim).
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings in 2018.
We remind investors that Lilly bought the animal-health division of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in early 2015.
Lilly carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A stock worth considering in the healthcare sector is Anika Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ANIK) , which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Anika Therapeutics’ earnings estimates for 2016 and 2017 were up a respective 9.5% and 11.3% over the last 60 days. The company has recorded a positive earnings surprise in each of the last four quarters with an average beat of 42.19%. Its share price has jumped more than 25% year to date.
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SANOFI-AVENTIS (SNY): Free Stock Analysis Report
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