Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Roche Holding AG / Disetronic Holding AG

2003 · Acquisition/Merger · $1.2B · Complete

CALLED IT — OFF BY 16

Roche's $1.2B bet on integrated diabetes management collapsed within a year, when an FDA manufacturing ban gutted Disetronic's US insulin-pump business and the unit never recovered.

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The coverage arc

Feb 10, 2003 ICIS Neutral

Swiss Roche to buy insulin pump maker Disetronic for SF1.6bn, combining pump leadership with Roche's existing diabetes diagnostics business.

Sep 01, 2017 Diabetic Investor Bearish

Roche's Disetronic acquisition characterized as 'how to blow a billion bucks' after manufacturing setbacks and competitive losses to Medtronic forced US pump…

Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.

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SFr1.6B (~$1.18B) for Swiss insulin pump leader, completed February 10, 2003. Combined with Roche diabetes monitoring. Sources: ICIS 2/10/2003, Crunchbase, swissinfo.

Did it work? Outcome assessment

Roche's $1.2B bet on integrated diabetes management collapsed within a year, when an FDA manufacturing ban gutted Disetronic's US insulin-pump business and the unit never recovered.

Strategic verdict
Failed to Achieve

Key facts

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Roche Holding AG / Disetronic Holding AG (this deal)2003$1.2B22
Roche Holding AG / Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.2002$1.4B100
Roche Holding AG / Ventana Medical Systems Inc.2008$3.4B88
Roche Holding AG / Corange Ltd. (Boehringer Mannheim Group)1997$11.0B88
Roche Holding AG / Ventana Medical Systems Inc.2007$3.4B88
Roche Holding AG / Foundation Medicine, Inc.2015$1.1B87
Roche Holding AG / Foundation Medicine, Inc.2018$5.3B85

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