Valeant Pharmaceuticals International sells United States and Canadian rights to hepatitis C drug (interferon alfacon-1) to Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals LLC for $91 million.
Speciality pharmaceutical company Valeant said it will receive approximately $70.8 million from Three Rivers in cash upon closing, and up to $20.5 million in two noncontingent payments over the following eighteen months.
Under the terms of the agreement, Three Rivers will be assigned all United States and Canadian rights to Infergen and will acquire the remaining Infergen inventory from Valeant.
Strategies
“The sale of Infergen to Three Rivers is an important step forward in executing our strategy of simplifying our operations,” said Timothy C. Tyson, Valeant’s president and chief executive officer. “We believe that by focusing our resources on products and regions where we have the greatest potential for market share growth and profitability, we will be able to improve our margins and yield better long-term shareholder value.”
Donald J. Kerrish, RPh, Three River’s president and chief executive officer said: “This acquisition further promotes Three Rivers’ continuous strategy to expand its product offerings through product acquisition and internal product development in highly specialized therapeutic disease categories like hepatitis C.”
Valeant last month said it was in talks with a potential buyer for the drug, whose sales have suffered from its loss of patent protection in Europe.
The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2008.
December 20, 2007
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