Another look at news in week to May 6

Spinning off attractive assets into new companies is a strategy that has worked well in the past for others in the healthcare sector, said Investopedia, commenting on Biogen’s decision last week to divest its hemophilia business into a new publicly traded company. One of the more notable divestments was Abbott Laboratories’ 2013 flotation of AbbVie.Since its debut, AbbVie's stock price has risen by nearly 76%, while that of its “parent” advanced by a comparatively less impressive 20%.

The as-yet-unnamed Biogen spinoff will almost certainly attract plenty of investor interest, according to Investopedia. Both Alprolix and Eloctate came to market in 2014, and still have significant room for growth, while the new company should have the resources to develop promising new therapies for hemophilia sufferers.

On the same subject, EP Vantage, the editorial arm of the Evaluate group, commented that choosing to create a new company rather than executing a trade sale is less understandable. Biogen executives sang the praises of its profitability and pipeline, but a logical scenario is that, even as biotech valuations wither, the asking price was probably well above what Eloctate and Alprolix could deliver.