Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco Wednesday, the specialty pharmaceutical company's president and CEO, Paul Bisaro, indicated that the company is eyeing a large-scale acquisition.

"I think our appetite for a larger transaction is there," he said. "It's finding the right transaction."

Watson produces both branded and generic drugs, but Bisaro indicated that the company wants to bolster its ability to be a balanced drugmaker, and use acquisitions as a tool to do so. Bisaro declared that Watson is "one or two large transactions away on the generic side" from where he'd like the company to be in terms of its generic capacity.

Part of that generic expansion is taking place through a pact with Amgen Inc. to develop biosimilars, which are generic biologic drugs. He also noted that the company is looking at some opportunities on the branded side, and though he didn't name names, he said that there are "some opportunities that are intriguing for [Watson]."

"We see our company changing into a company with a more balanced approach," he said. "In the short term, we'll do tuck-in kinds of acquisitions -- but we'll look at something bigger once we find the right fit."

Watson made just one acquisition in 2011, when it paid at least $561.8 million for Greek rival Specifar Pharmaceuticals SA in May. The deal brought Watson a portfolio of off-patent medications and a sales network in Europe and Greece. Its last truly large-scale purchase came when it struck a deal to acquire generic drugmaker Arrow Group plc for $1.75 billion in 2009.

Bisaro also addressed one of Watson's biggest prospects over the next few months -- its generic version of Pfizer Inc.'s cholesterol pill Lipitor. Lipitor went off patent on Nov. 30, and Watson and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.'s American subsidiary, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc., are the only two companies free to produce generic copies during the 180-day window they get to exclusively market the drugs.

While Bisaro said that Watson was "very pleased" with the launch of its generic Lipitor and predicted that the company would take in roughly 50% "or greater" of the drug's market share during the 180-day window, he noted that the unique moves Pfizer has taken to hold on to Lipitor's revenue -- which include reported agreements with pharmacy benefit managers that prevent customers on certain health plans from getting access to generic Lipitor -- are taking its toll.

"They're probably the most aggressive we've ever seen in this space," Bisaro said of Pfizer's moves, noting that they've enabled the New York drug titan to retain between 38% and 39% of the market. "That number will go down, but how fast will depend on the pricing in the generic space. We'll see how it plays out the rest of the way."