Allergan shares spike on Glaxo buyout rumors

There's nothing like a little takeover speculation to heat up a company's stock price. Just ask cosmetic drug developer Allergan, which saw its shares spike more than 13 percent in afternoon trading on Tuesday as rumors swirled that GlaxoSmithKline was preparing to swoop in with a buyout offer.

Glaxo and Allergan already have a working relationship co-marketing various therapeutics. And analysts see a lot of that magic synergy they like when different companies merge operations. Allergan is preparing a regulatory filing seeking approval to use Botox as a migraine treatment, and Glaxo has been very busy in that field. And let's not forget that a drop in revenue as consumers cut back on nonessentials has forced Allergan to lay off 5 percent of its staff. That kind of struggling attracts a lot of attention.

After a string of big biopharma mergers and acquisitions, though, analysts and investors alike are fully tuned in to the potential any new takeover attempt has for a quick return. And maybe that's the biggest single reason we're seeing so much attention center so quickly on Allergan.

- read the report [1] on MarketWatch

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Cosmetic pharma remains steady in downturn [5]