Mature and established healthcare companies have been catering to women’s health for decades.
Bayer, the German pharmaceutical giant with $44B of annual revenue, offers several women’s health products including three popular IUDs – Mirena, Kyleena and Jaydess that brought in over $1.2B of revenue in 2021. Pfizer, the American pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation, also has significant revenue coming from women’s health solutions. For example, Pfizer owns Premarin, which is used to treat hot flashes due to menopause, which brought in $563M last year. Cigna, an insurance company with $174B of annual revenue, recognizes that most of the health decisions and duties are led by women, and for that reason, conducted a study to better understand how to adequately serve women.
In fact, women control about 80% of the healthcare spend in the US!
It is no secret that women’s health and sexual health solutions are tremendous opportunities for established healthcare companies looking to keep up with innovation and market demand. With the slow moving pace of large corporations, they often look to acquire innovation rather than develop in-house.
In 2022, we saw a number of strategic acquisitions by healthcare giants in the women’s health and sexual health space.
Top Deals of 2022
The next two deals in our top 10 of 2022 demonstrate this trend:
6) Unified Women’s Healthcare acquires Gennev (Amboy Street portfolio company)
Unified Women’s Healthcare is the largest physician practice management company dedicated solely to women with over 900 physical OBGYN and care clinics.
Amboy Street portfolio company, Gennev, offers telehealth, products, and coaching focused on menopause.
As Unified Women’s Healthcare looks to enhance the care experience for women through all stages of life, Gennev’s menopause offerings are a great addition. Bob LaGalia, CEO of United Women’s Healthcare, says “this strategic investment in Gennev will allow Unified to provide essential care to women nationwide, and complement the services now delivered by our 2,500 affiliated women’s healthcare providers across 900 locations throughout the United States.”
7) Cooper Companies acquires Cook Medical for $875M
Cooper Companies is a leading women’s healthcare and fertility company with an annual revenue of $3.3B. It provides medical and surgical devices and fertility solutions.
Cook Medical develops reproductive health products. It produces devices for gynecology and obstetrics including In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).
In February 2022, Cook Medical officially announced its intent to sell to Cooper Companies for a total of $875M. By acquiring Cook Medical, Cooper Companies expands its portfolio of innovative reproductive health products, providing a more comprehensive healthcare experience to patients worldwide.
This Trend in Recent Years
Healthcare giants have been paying billion dollar price tags for innovation in women’s health and sexual health in recent years. In 2021, Cooper Companies paid $1.6B to acquire Generate Life Sciences, a leading provider of donor egg and sperm for fertility treatments, fertility cryopreservation services and newborn stem cell storage. This same year, Merk’s women’s health faction, Organon, paid up to $954M (contingent on milestone payments) for Forendo Pharma, a clinical-stage drug development company focused on novel treatments in women’s health. In 2020, Bayer acquired KaNDy Therapeutics, a biotech company developing medication for menopause, for approximately $1B, including milestone payments.
What’s next?
Amboy Street portfolio company, Contraline, is a strong acquisition target for the major pharmaceutical and biotech companies of the world that are looking for market share in the untapped male birth control space.
Contraline is developing ADAM™, the world’s first injectable hydrogel designed to provide men with long-lasting contraception. It’s like the IUD, for men. Contraline is testing the ADAM™ in its first-in-human clinical trial after proving efficacy in animals. Google Ventures also recently joined Amboy Street on Contraline’s cap table.
Bayer already successfully commercializes IUDs and may be interested in commercializing Contraline. Boston Scientific buys seven urology medical device companies each year on average. We expect a healthcare giant, like Bayer or Boston Scientific, to buy Contraline once it achieves FDA approval.
Looking at past trends and current opportunities, it is clear that established healthcare companies will continue to keep up with innovation through acquisitions to address the vastly underserved market of women’s health and sexual health. Fortunately, this will continue to be a lucrative exit path for women’s health and sexual health companies.
Next up, we will discuss how Private Equity plays a large role in the women’s health and sexual health M&A flurry of 2022.
