Pharma Giant Finally Spending Its Money On Drugs, Not Tax Dodges

Pfizer went on a shopping spree this week, spending nearly $15.6 billion on two acquisitions to boost its array of cancer drugs and antibiotics. The Viagra maker on Monday bought Medivation for $14 billion, adding the San Francisco-based firm’s lucrative prostate cancer drug Xtandi to its roster of oncology treatments. On Wednesday, the company announced the purchase of U.K. rival AstraZeneca’s antibiotics division for $1.575 billion plus royalties to bolster a part of Pfizer’s business that’s been hurt by expired patents. The deals mark a departure from Pfizer’s attempts in the last two years to merge with rivals in low-tax Britain or Ireland in hopes of dodging taxes in the United States. Instead of boosting its bottom line by skirting taxes, Pfizer is trying to do better at what it’s meant to do: make and sell pharmaceuticals.  In 2014, Pfizer aggressively tried to buy AstraZeneca outright for $119 billion. Last year, Pfizer was at it again, bidding up to $160 billion to buy Botox-maker Allergan and move to Ireland, a favorite offshore destination for corporations to store their cash. Such schemes, called “corporate tax inversions,” essentially allow a company to absorb a smaller competitor in another country, then adopt the acquired firm’s citizenship in order to lower their taxes. On paper, the U.S. has a high corporate tax rate, but loopholes and generous tax breaks lower that number dramatically. The avera...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news