by MARIE DAGHLIAN
The pre-Christmas buying spree extended to life sciences this year as seven pharmaceutical companies rushed to announce major acquisitions and partnership deals before the holidays. The deal of the week went to Sanofi-Aventis' (SNY) acquisition of U.S. consumer healthcare company Chattem, famous for branded products such as Gold Bond, Icy Hot, ACT, and Unisom, for $1.9 billion, creating the world's fifth largest consumer healthcare company as measured by product revenues. The acquisition now gives Sanofi a major presence in the U.S. over-the-counter business, part of the company's overall strategy of becoming a major player in the global branded generics sector and a way to achieve sustainable growth.
Not to be outshone by its French neighbor, United Kingdom pharma powerhouse AstraZeneca (AZN) moved to beef up its pipeline by striking two major deals just a couple of days apart. On Monday AstraZeneca said it was buying all rights to Swedish biotech Biovitrum's (BIOVY.PK) leptim modulator program aimed at treating obesity for $8.5 million upfront and up to $250 million in milestone payments. Then on Wednesday, AstraZeneca signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Novexel, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on novel antibiotics designed to overcome microbial drug resistance, for a total cash consideration of up to $505 million. Novexel investors will get $350 cash upfront, up to $75 million contingent on specificed development milestones, and Novexel's cash balance at closing which is expected to be about $80 million.
No comments:
Post a Comment