South African generic drug maker Aspen Pharmacare will buy GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) blood-clotting thrombosis drug brands and its manufacturing factory for US$1.13bn
According to a statement by Aspen Pharmacare, the purchase includes the Arixtra and Fraxiparine brands of GSK. However, GSK would retain the rights to the thrombosis brands in China, India and Pakistan. The disposal of the blood clotting drug brands was flagged by GSK in June 2013.
After regulatory approvals, a majority of the commercial operations will be transferred to Aspen by the end 2013. The remaining operations, along with the manufacturing site will be handed over to Aspen by GSK in the first half of 2014.
Aspen also announced that it has purchased the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing unit from a subsidiary of US drug maker Merck & Co for US$998.8mn.
Aspen chief executive officer Stephen Saad said, “The deal with GSK presents excellent synergistic opportunities for Aspen’s ongoing global expansion strategy. The brands to be acquired have strong brand equity and demand in the markets where they have been promoted. It provides Aspen with a market presence in some additional 30 countries. This along with the successful completion of the MSD deal leads to benefits such as production, inventory planning and economies of scale in procurement.”
GSK, which owns an 18.6 per cent stake in Aspen, said in a separate statement that the sale proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
