Business Strategies

Starboard Value CEO Jeffrey C. Smith and former Bayer consumer health chief Erica Mann among three added to board at Kenvue, which increasing the number of seats temporarily from 11 to 14 until trimming it to 13 at its 2025 annual shareholders meeting on a date yet to be set.

Ashley Graham promotes OLLY; Robles BioCeutics adds financial and science chiefs; Graham Rigby leads AHPA; Vit-Best Nutrition appoints Jeffrey Stallings president; BodyHealth collaborates with NBA player Bam Adebayo; and Bucked Up adds Alex Eubank as brand ambassador.

The US stock market broadly declined following increased tariffs on goods from China and new tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, but biopharma initially weathered the storm, while pharma faced some headwinds.

The president says 4 March would mark the start of tariffs he initially intended to take effect on 1 February before allowing a delay for Mexico and Canada to implement border security to help curb illegal entry by immigrants and fentanyl smuggling.

AbbVie is the latest big pharma to buy into the obesity space, licensing an amylin analog from Gubra for $350m up front, while Novo will pursue cardiometabolic targets with Gensaic’s AI-based platform.

Private Company Edition: $100m-plus venture capital mega-rounds drove biopharma company fundraising closer to record-breaking levels in 2024, but the pace of big VC deals has slowed aside from Callio’s $187m series A, Eikon’s $350.7m series D and Enveda’s series C extension to $150m.

CEO says firm’s “three clear imperatives” to drive cash and “total shareholder return” comprise its “three S” plan. Perrigo’s net sales for the quarter down 1.6% to $1.14bn and for the year down 6.1% to $4.37bn.

Public Company Edition: BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics will merger with a SPAC and raise $450m. Also, BridgeBio Pharma priced $500m in notes and Solid grossed $200m in a follow-on offering, while Idorsia restructured debt and a deal after a planned transaction fizzled out.

Full-year revenues up 14% to $732m and Q4 up 5% to $186m. Communications VP Dan Dischner says results came from “resilience of our portfolio, driven by contributions from key products such as Primatene Mist and the integration of Baqsimi into our expanding diabetes franchise.”

Scrip spoke with Bayer commercial and business development heads Christine Roth and Jurgen Eckhardt about sales growth, product launches and dealmaking priorities in 2025 and beyond.