M&A activity continues to recast the industry

Chain Drug Review, Dec 8, 2008

NEW YORK -- The year is ending in much the same way as it began for the pharmaceutical industry as mergers and acquisitions rule the spotlight.

King Pharmaceuticals Inc., for example, announced late last month that it plans to acquire Alpharma Inc. for about $1.6 billion. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said it was buying Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc. for $438 million as well as Mentor Corp. for $1.07 billion. NitroMed Inc., the company that garnered headlines for marketing BiDil, a heart medicine for black patients, is merging with Archemix Corp. Eli Lilly and Co. has completed its purchase of ImClone Systems Inc., and Roche AG has signed an agreement to acquire Memory Pharmaceuticals Inc. for about $50 million.

Among biotechnology companies, Cellular Dynamics International, Stem Cell Products Inc. and iPS Ceils Inc. are combining to form a new entity which will retain the CDI name and its Madison, Wis., headquarters.

In the generic drugs sector, shareholders of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. have approved the acquisition of that company by Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd.

If cleared by shareholders, the agreement between King and Alpharma would give the former Kadian and Flector--a pain drug and a pain patch, respectively, marketed by Alpharma--as well as Embeda, an experimental pain treatment. An FDA advisory panel recently suggested that morphine-based Embeda would be less attractive to drug abusers--which could serve as a marketing bonanza should the agency allow the company to include such a claim on its label.