Cephalon said this morning it will buy the Swiss generic drug maker Mepha in a deal that will double the size of the U.S. company’s international business and enlarge its hand in generics. The price-tag was set at about $590 million.
It seems like everybody wants to get into the global generics business these days. Sanof-Aventis has been making acquisitions to that end, and Pfizer created a new “established products” unit and cut a few deals with Indian manufacturers to grow its generics business.
Cephalon, whose biggest seller Provigil will face its own generic competition in 2012, will gain 120 products sold in 50 countries through the deal, which should start adding to earnings this year. With the additions, the company will be in 100 countries and about 30% of its overall sales will be international.
Mepha sells generics, branded generics and modified-release versions of branded generics producing sales of about $377 million. Its medicines are used for a long list of ailments, including anemia, schizophrenia, bacterial infections, pain, heart disease, allergies, hypertension, malaria, ulcers, cough and mood and anxiety disorders, Reuters notes. Cephalon also gets rights to sell generic copies of Amgens Neupogen, also called filgrastim, used to offset depletion of white blood cells caused by chemotherapy, according to Bloomberg. Neupogen generated $1.29 billion in Amgen sales last year.
Mepha is owned by Germany’s Merckle family, which is also trying to sell Ratiopharm, a bigger generic maker, to repay debts. Pfizer, Teva Pharmaceutical and EQT Partners AB of Sweden are among those vying for the company (see our post last month for more).
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