Endo Health Solutions (NSDQ:ENDP) may be looking to ditch its American Medical Systems subsidiary, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing "people familiar with the matter."
Endo bought pelvic devices maker AMS for $2.9 billion in cash in 2011. AMS has had a few issues over the years, including high-profile lawsuits over pelvic mesh implants and FDA warnings. The anonymous sources cited by the Journal speculated that the sales could garner $2 billion for AMS.
An Endo representative did not immediately return calls for confirmation.
Despite lawsuits and regulatory snags, AMS made up nearly 20% of Endo’s revenue in the 1st half of 2014. During that time Endo also paid $830 million to settle some 20,000 product liability lawsuits over pelvic mesh products. Endo admitted no guilt in settling the lawsuits, but the hit pushed the company into the red for the 1st quarter of 2014.
In February Endo also took a $500 million write-down on the value of its AMS segment, saying at the time that it would book a $316 million pre-tax charge to boost its product liability reserve to $520 million to cover "all known, pending and estimated future claims primarily related to vaginal mesh cases."
In April this year the FDA issued a pair of warnings citing manufacturing violations at a Minnesota plant run by AMS. "These observations, previously self-identified by AMS, were being addressed through a corrective action plan which AMS originally expected to complete beyond 2015," the company said.