Actelion chief seeks "nirvana state" of better PAH diagnoses

In the context of a competitive, some say overheated, market for mergers and acquisitions, Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) $30 billion purchase of Swiss biotech Actelion could be seen as a value-destructive move for shareholders.

Particularly as the firm’s founder and chief executive, Jean-Paul Clozel, walked away with “a rich collection of compounds” at the heart of a new company, Idorsia (SIX: IDIA).

At the time, Dr Clozel said his aim was to “create another Actelion,” leveraging “something like 20,000 patents and between 10 and 20 projects in the pipeline.”