Botox on the Block?

Allergan, which owns Botox, has approached Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson and other companies to gauge their interest in acquiring the company.


The reported moves comes after larger rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals joined forces with activist investor Bill Ackman to make an unsolicited $46 billion bid for the Botox maker. Allegan has adopted a poison-pill defense in its efforts to fend off the Valeant takeover, which has prompted analysts at Stifel to downgrade the pharmaceutical company to hold from buy. Shares in Allergan rose 1.2% just after the open.