U.S Corporate Tax Code Unhealthy for Medical Innovation

It would be fair to say markets were blindsided by the U.S. Treasury’s 300-page plus batch of regulations that blew up the merger between Pfizer and Allergan. The deal was widely described as a so-called “inversion,” a deal whereby a U.S. domiciled company reverses itself in to a foreign firm for the purpose of reducing its U.S. tax burden.

Pfizer has been trying to invert itself for a long time. It has not been easy. In May 2014, Pfizer gave up its dance with AstraZeneca, a British-based global pharmaceutical company. The problem for a huge biopharmaceutical firm like Pfizer is that it cannot just collapse itself into a foreign shell.

Read the entire column at Forbes.