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Allergan agreed on Monday to be acquired for $66 billion by Actavis in a deal worth $219 a share in cash and stock. The deal would be the biggest ever for Actavis and the largest acquisition in a year full of big deals, eclipsing Comcast’s $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable and AT&T’s $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV. It would be the third-largest health care deal ever in the United States, according to Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ. (Gelles, 11/17)

Actavis, which is buying Botox-maker Allergan for $66 billion in one of the biggest acquisitions announced so far this year, plans to stay committed to developing new products. CEO Brent Saunders said Monday that the combined company will have more than two dozen products in late-stage clinical testing, which is usually the last and most expensive development phase, and it will work to support research. (Murphy, 11/17)

Two years ago, Actavis PLC was a relatively small seller of generic medicines with an unpronounceable name. After it seals its $66 billion deal for Allergan Inc., announced Monday, the company would be one of the globe’s largest drug makers by sales, led by the antiwrinkle treatment Botox. The rapid rise of Actavis was fueled by seismic changes reshaping health care, and then turbocharged by Allergan’s heated efforts to slip from the grasp of a hostile suitor. (Rockoff, 11/17)

Actavis PLC’s $66 billion offer for Botox maker Allergan Inc. may be a precursor of things to come. ... Kathrin Kudner, a member of Dykema’s health care practice group, said activities will likely be driven by strategic mergers and hospital consolidation, an area private equity hasn’t been hot on in recent years. “A large number of free standing community hospitals are looking at partnerships or acquisitions, given high technology costs, high personnel cost, and decreasing government reimbursement,” she said. (Oh, 11/17)