'Mergers & Acquisitions'
 Valeant Pharmaceuticals Agrees To Acquire Acne Free And Certain Assets From University Medical Pharma |
|---|
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. announced that Valeant has agreed to acquire certain assets from University Medical Pharmaceuticals Corp., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on skincare products, for approximately $64 million plus potential milestones based upon attainment of future revenue targets. University Medical's main brand is Acne Free, a leading retail over-the-counter (OTC) acne treatment.
Total revenue in 2011 from the acquired assets was approximately $32 million. The transaction is expected to close by mid-year, subject to certain closing conditions including expiration of requisite regulatory waiting periods, and is expected to be immediately accretive.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. is a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products primarily in the areas of neurology, dermatology and branded generics.
|
|---|
| Sanofi, Novo, Lilly Shape Up for Big Insulin Fight |
|---|
Competition is ramping up in the multibillion-dollar market for long-lasting insulins, with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly lining up new products that could trump Sanofi's top-seller Lantus.
Worldwide, Lantus has some 80 percent of the market for long-acting, or basal, insulins used to treat diabetes and the product had sales of around $5 billion last year. Now rivals are closing in.
Denmark's Novo has a new insulin called Tresiba, or degludec, that is awaiting a U.S. approval decision by July 29 and could also get a green light in Europe in the second half of the year.
And Lilly's new long-acting insulin LY2605541, though still some years from reaching the market, is already causing a stir after signs in mid-stage Phase II clinical tests it may help patients lose weight. If confirmed in later trials that could give it a unique selling point against other therapies for controlling type 2 diabetes,(a disease that is closely linked with obesity).
At the same time, Lantus faces indirect competition from so-called GLP-1 drugs like Byetta and Bydureon from Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Victoza from Novo and several others still at the development stage.
Sanofi is working to defend its business by developing an improved, longer-lasting formulation of Lantus and a Lantus plus GLP-1 combination product.
Ending Sanofi's 10-year dominance would be a major coup for Novo, whose existing long-acting insulin Levemir has failed to seriously dent the French drugmaker's grip on the market.
International drugmakers are competing fiercely in the type 2 diabetes market as the number of people with the disease worldwide continues to grow rapidly.
Diabetics typically start out on oral medicine but often need to move on to insulin injections to regulate their blood-sugar levels. One side-effect of taking insulin can be hypoglycemia, when sugar levels become dangerously low. A key selling-point for the new products from Novo and Lilly is that they cause fewer such "hypos".
|
|---|
|
|
|
