K-V Pharmaceutical Shares Popped: What You Need to Know (KV-A)

K-V Pharmaceutical Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

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Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of pharmaceutical company K-V Pharmaceutical (NYSE: KV-A ) were looking particularly peppy today as investors boosted shares as much as 20% in intraday trading.

So what: K-V announced this morning that the company had agreed to sell its Nesher Pharmaceuticals generic-drug division to Zydus Pharmaceuticals for $60 million. The sale shouldn't have come as much of a surprise, as the company has been looking to offload Nesher since July of last year. The sale not only brings some much-needed capital to help fund K-V's drug development efforts, but also moves it in the direction of focusing primarily on branded drugs.

Now what: It's been a rough ride for K-V and its shareholders in recent years. The company ran afoul of the Food and Drug Administration after a string of recalls and that led to the dissolution of its former generics subsidiary, Ethex, and the company's strategic shift. This year K-V was rocked by a tsunami of public anger after it priced its preterm birth drug Makena at a level that many considered egregious. The backlash was severe enough that the company slashed the price and pledged to provide financial assistance to many patients that are eligible to use the drug. And if that's all not enough, the precarious financial situation of the company led to a "going concern" warning in its most recent annual report.

So, yes, the news of Nesher's sale today is a positive for the company, but K-V may still have some pretty steep mountains to climb before investors can rest easy.

Want to keep up to date on K-V Pharmaceutical? Add it to your watchlist.

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