Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., the drugmaker that has been under scrutiny for its accounting and pricing practices, said it will change its name to Bausch Health Companies Inc., a name selected from one of its best-known and oldest brands.
The Canadian company will launch a new corporate brand identity in July and change its trading symbol to BHC from VRX on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges, also effective in July.
The debt-laden drugmaker derived the new name from its Bausch + Lomb business, which mainly offers eye care products such as contact lenses, eye treatments and devices used in eye surgery.
Valeant explored various units within its portfolio along with several potential new names, but Bausch turned to be the best choice, Valeant Chairman and CEO Joseph Papa said in a statement. Papa cited the unit's namesake J.J. Bausch, who opened his first shop more than 165 years ago. Valeant bought Bausch + Lomb for $8.7 billion in 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the new name May 8.
The eye care business has been one of its best performers, according to the newspaper. While Valeant's total revenue in 2017 fell 10% year over year to $8.72 billion, the sales from Bausch + Lomb/International segment declined only 1% to $4.87 billion.
The new name uses health instead of pharmaceuticals to show the increasing contribution of nondrug products to the company, which offers pharmaceutical, medical device and over-the-counter products, mainly in areas of eye health, gastroenterology and hair treatments, Papa said.
Valeant said all established brands within the company will continue to operate using their existing names.
Past troubles
The company made headlines in 2015 after buying drugs it saw as undervalued and raising the prices almost immediately. Congressional hearings and federal probes followed, culminating in the ousting of then-CEO Michael Pearson. Activist investor William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP, once a key shareholder in Valeant, and the drugmaker agreed to $290 million to settle lawsuits related to an attempted acquisition of Allergan PLC.
Valeant, with total long-term debt of $28.27 billion as of March 31, has been selling assets to pay off loans.
Under Papa's leadership, the company has completed more than a dozen divestitures and reduced debt by more than 20%, Valeant said.
Companies emerging from financial woes or investigations sometimes change their names as a sign that their troubles are in the past. Examples in the healthcare industry include HealthSouth Corp., a U.S. rehabilitation services provider that was enmeshed in an accounting scandal more than a decade ago and is now known as Encompass Health Corp.
Papa told The Wall Street Journal that he had been considering the name change since joining Valeant in May 2016 but held off until the company had made certain progress.
He also discussed the possibility of a name change in May 2017 at an annual meeting, Bloomberg News reported at the time.