Allergan PLC CEO Brenton Saunders said the company will no longer sell its women's health business but will instead continue managing and optimizing the business.

Dublin-based Allergan's anti-infectives division, which has also been put up for sale, "is more likely than not to be sold" over the near term, Saunders said during the company's fourth-quarter 2018 earnings call Jan. 29.

The company was looking to divest its women's health and infectious disease units to focus on its four core therapeutic areas — medical aesthetics, central nervous system, eye care and gastroenterology.

For 2018, the women's health segment raked in sales of $786.8 million, a year-over-year decline from $1.04 billion, while the anti-infectives division booked sales of $304.4 million, up from $257.3 million.

According to the CEO, the company is moving away from price hikes and will focus its strategy on more innovative pipeline developments.

"We have anticipated for years now that price would not be a lever that could be pulled by this industry," Saunders said. "We saw no price appreciation on a net basis in 2018. We anticipate no price appreciation on a net basis in 2019, and we baked no price appreciation into our outlook on a go-forward basis."

The CEO stated that the facts support the company's assumptions that "price was not going to be a growth driver in any way, shape or form in this industry." "So we kind of don't think about price essentially," he added.

"Millennial movement"

Allergan booked a 5.7% year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter net revenues to $4.08 billion from $4.33 billion. For 2018, net revenues fell to $15.78 billion to $15.94 billion.

Botox was still the biggest growth contributor to the company's sales, bringing in $945.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 9.4% year over year, and $3.58 billion during the full year, a 12.9% year-over-year hike.

"[T]he age cohort for Botox has been trending younger and younger, given, as you know, this millennial movement," Chief Commercial Officer William Meury said. He added that the pharmaceutical company expects millennials to be the largest consumer of aesthetic products and services in the next five years, replacing Generation X.

Vraylar, meanwhile, was the company's fastest growing product. In 2018, sales for Vraylar — projected to be one of the company's "most important products" — rose 69.2% on a yearly basis to $487.1 million from $287.8 million. The drug is approved in the U.S. for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults and acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar 1 disorder in adults.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing Vraylar, also known as cariprazine, to expand the drug's indication to include the treatment of adults with depressive episodes associated with bipolar 1 disorder, or bipolar depression. Allergan anticipates receiving a decision from the regulator in May.

Additionally, Allergan's board approved a new $2 billion share repurchase program as part of the company's allocation program. The company expects to deploy the buyback program over the next 12 months.