Pharma: Another Japanese buyer, another US seller
Japanese pharmaceuticals company Shionogi announced that it has agreed to buy US-based drug company Sciele Pharma. The deal is for $1.4 billion in cash.
Shionogi, whose biggest drug Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering drug, was looking to get a better sales and marketing position in the US. It is currently selling Crestor in the US through rival AstraZeneca. It also has drugs for HIV, skin conditions, and obesity in the pipeline.
Sciele primarily sells drugs for cardiovascular disease. It's new a hypertension medicine, Addrenex, is due out soon.
According to Bloomberg News ("Shionogi to Buy Sciele Pharma to Get U.S. Sales Staff", 9/1/08):"The offer adds to $156 billion in acquisitions in the global drug and biotechnology industries in 2008, the biggest year on record."
Other big deals this year involving Japanese drug companies include:
- Takeda Pharmaceutical (#1 in Japan) bought U.S.-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $8.9 billion
- Daichi Sankyo (#3 in Japan) bought Indian generic drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories for $4.5 billion.
There have been 11 other deals by Japanese companies for foreign firms, worth over $4 billion more.
