Tag: Vectura

  • PMI to Record £220 Million Loss on Vectura Sale

    PMI to Record £220 Million Loss on Vectura Sale

    Image: Aliaksandr Marko

    Philip Morris International expects to record a record loss of about £220 million ($198 million) on the sale of its inhaled-therapeutics Vectura Group unit to Molex Asia Holdings in the third quarter, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing a securities filing.

    On Sept. 17, PMI’s pharmaceutical subsidiary, Vectura Fertin Pharma, announced it would sell its Vectura Group business to Molex. The company acquired Vectura Group in 2021 for $1.24 billion as part PMI’s drive to diversify beyond nicotine.

    The company now says that “unwarranted opposition” to its transformation has affected Vectura Group’s engagement with the scientific community and its commercial relationships.

    The remaining units of Vectura Fertin Pharma will continue to operate under a new corporate identity and develop oral consumer health and wellness offerings, as well as inhaled prescription products for pain management and cardiovascular emergencies.

  • PMI Sells Vectura, Exits Asthma Inhaler Business

    PMI Sells Vectura, Exits Asthma Inhaler Business

    Photo: PMI

    Philip Morris International is selling Vectura to Molex Asia Holdings for £150 million ($198 million) cash upfront and potential deferred payments of up to £148 million—about a third of the price it paid for the company three years ago. Vectura will be operated by Molex’ Phillips Medisize unit.

    In 2021, PMI paid about $1.2 billion for the U.K. maker of asthma inhalers as part of its efforts to diversify into the pharmaceutical business.

    The deal attracted heavy criticism from anti-smoking campaigners who said the cigarette manufacturer should not benefit from a company that offers treatments of ailments caused or worsened by tobacco products.

    The fierce opposition played a roll in PMI’s decision to sell the unit at a loss. “Despite the investment and commitment to developing products and therapies vital to patients, unwarranted opposition to PMI’s transformation has impacted Vectura’s scientific engagement and commercial CDMO [contract developing and manufacturing organization] relationships.” PMI wrote in statement.

    “With its experience in pharmaceutical drug delivery devices and its global manufacturing footprint, Phillips Medisize is best placed to lead Vectura into the future—while releasing it from the unreasonable burden of external constraints and criticism related to our ownership,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak.

    Vectura is part of a “health and wellness” unit that also includes Fertin Pharma, the producer of a smoking-cessation aid, that PMI bought for about $820 million in 2021. Last year, PMI took a $680 million impairment charge on the unit after unsuccessful clinical trials and slower-than-expected development of other products.

    Selling Vectura will allow PMI to “rid itself of a financially struggling unit,” said Kenneth Shea, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “But it also represents a strategic backpedal to the company’s once-bold ambition to serve the inhaled therapeutics medical market,” he added.