J & amp;J Agrees to $2.1B Sale of LifeScan

It's official, Johnson & Johnson is pulling out of the blood glucose monitoring space.  The New Brunswick, NJ-based company reported Tuesday afternoon that it has accepted Platinum Equity's $2.1 billion offer for J&J's LifeScan business. As MD+DI previously reported, J&J has been entertaining the offer since March and was expected to respond by June 15. LifeScan is known to diabetes patients worldwide for its OneTouch brand of glucose meters, insulin pumps, and related products. J&J said the deal is expected to close by the end of the year, assuming it clears regulatory requirements and other customary closing conditions. LifeScan earned $1.5 billion in revenue in 2017.  Platinum Equity and J&J noted in March when the offer was first announced that LifeScan President Valerie Asbury would continue to lead the business following the change in ownership. So far, this is the largest deal in the medical device and diagnostics industry in 2018. Here is a list of the other biggest medtech M&As reported so far this year. Last October, J&J announced that it was dropping out of the insulin pump business and immediately shutting down its Animas unit, citing increasing competition in the space. That decision left about 90,000 patients looking for a new insulin pump, and those patients were given the option to transfer to Medtronic pumps. Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak noted during the company's most recent quarterly earnings call in May that the company now...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Business Source Type: news