Pfizers big split is finally here, thanks to a giant generics merger with Mylan

Looks like consumer health isnt the only franchise Pfizer is looking to shed. In a payoff for years of split-up talk, the pharma giants got hive-off plans for its generics business, too. And those plans could finally give Mylan investors what they want or some of it, at least. Pfizer has agreed to merge its off-patent drugs franchise, Upjohn, with Mylan, the companies said Monday. The deal would allow Pfizer and Mylan to combine two under-pressure businesses into a new giant with projected 2020 revenues of $19  billion to $20 billion. And with that heft, it may have a better chance at weathering growing pricing pressure in the U.S. generics market. “By bringing Mylan’s growth assets to Upjohn’s growth markets, we will create a financially strong company with true global reach,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. It would also fulfill a long-held dream among some Pfizer analysts and investors who've been agitating for a generics split-off for years. Under former CEO Ian Read, the company weighed a spin-off or sale, abandoned the idea, and then restructured to give the unit more independence inside the company.