J&J provided color on plans for standalone consumer health business during a business overview with analysts. Multiple separation pathways are being considered.

Paying down Bausch Health’s debt, incurred during previous management’s expansion-by-acquisition strategy when the firm operated as Valeant, has been a box to check from the start of preparing to separate Bausch + Lomb, says CEO Joseph Papa.

J&J takes same approach GSK, Pfizer, Merck & Co, Merck and Novartis have with their consumer health businesses, Bausch Health is starting and Sanofi says it will.

The biopharma market has been highly active throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with a substantial focus on strategic alliances between 2020-H1 2021. Partnership deals present exciting liquidity and risk mitigation opportunities for early-stage companies. Small molecules still comprise the largest segment of partnered drugs, but alliances for other modalities are on the rise.