Valeant Pharmaceuticals Contacts Quebec and U.S. Regulators About Allergan's False and Misleading Statements

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. has contacted both the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF) in Quebec and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding Allergan Inc.'s apparent attempt to mislead investors and manipulate the market for Valeant common shares by continuing to make false and misleading statements regarding Valeant's business despite Valeant's public statements correcting such information. 

The latest misleading statements were made last Friday when Allergan falsely asserted in an SEC filing that Bausch + Lomb's pharmaceutical sales were stagnant or declining. Contrary to Allergan's statements this past Friday, Bausch + Lomb's global prescription pharmaceutical business, which represents less than 20% of Bausch + Lomb total sales, grew approximately 6% in the second quarter of 2014, while the US prescription pharmaceutical business grew 17%, as compared to the prior year, with well over 70% of that growth attributable to volume increases. 

Valeant's decision to contact the authorities also reflects concerns raised by several Canadian Valeant shareholders about comments made about Valeant by Allergan's management during recent meetings with these investors in Canada.

"We can no longer tolerate unjustified attacks on Valeant's business and strongly believe we are obligated to take action to protect Valeant shareholders from Allergan's apparent attempts to mislead investors and manipulate the market for Valeant stock," said J. Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer.

"Allergan's continued disparagement of Valeant and repeated questioning of Bausch + Lomb's performance demonstrate their fundamental lack of knowledge about Valeant's business. Valeant has owned Bausch + Lomb for 11 months and the business has performed extremely well, delivering total organic growth of 11% since the acquisition, with over 90% of that growth attributable to volume. With our continued success with Bausch + Lomb, we believe that the Bausch + Lomb transaction is a perfect blueprint for our proposed merger with Allergan.

"Finally, we do not believe that it is productive for either company to conduct due diligence in a public forum and although we have consistently offered Allergan the opportunity to conduct due diligence on our business, its management and board have refused, and have instead chosen to make misrepresentations and false statements about our business," continued Pearson. "Their ongoing tactics reinforce how imperative it is that Allergan stockholders call a special meeting to amend the company's unduly onerous and non-stockholder friendly by-laws, remove six directors, and propose the appointment of new directors, who will thoroughly evaluate Valeant's offer, which represents a strategically compelling and enormously value-creating opportunity for Allergan stockholders at a 50%+ premium to Allergan's unaffected share price."