Novartis buys Glaxo’s cancer arm for $16 billion
Novartis will focus more on cancer, GlaxoSmithKline on vaccines and Eli Lilly & Co on animal health as the drug makers announced a series of deals for a total of as much as $28.5 billion on Tuesday. The transactions, as well as a plan to form a consumer health joint venture with Glaxo, are part of an overhaul of the pharmaceutical industry spurred by the loss of sales as best-selling medicines lose patent protection. Pfizer, the world's biggest drug maker, sold its infant nutrition business to Nestle for $11.9 billion in 2012, and then last year spun off its animal health unit. Novartis agreed to buy cancer drugs for as much as $16 billion while selling most of the company's vaccines division to Glaxo for $7.1 billion and its animal health unit to Lilly for $5.4 billion.
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