Bayer Completes Acquisition of Novartis Biologics Facility

Berlin, Germany (Sept. 14)-Bayer Schering Pharma officially completed the acquisition of Novartis’s (Basel, Switzerland) biologics manufacturing facility in Emeryville, California. Bayer will manufacture its “Betaseron” (interferon beta-1b) drug at the Emeryville site. The company maintains control of all manufacturing and process technology used to produce Betaseron, a multiple-sclerosis drug, and has retained the employees who manufacture the product.

As part of the transaction, which was announced in March 2007, Novartis transferred manufacturing responsibility for Betaseron to Bayer and received a total payment of roughly $200 million for the transfer of production equipment, inventory, and the leasing of buildings at the site.

Bayer will pay Novartis royalties on the net sales of Betaseron manufactured at the Emeryville facilities until the original regulatory filing, development, and supply agreement expires in October 2008.

Bayer will help Novartis submit a regulatory filing for the latter’s 250-µg version of interferon beta-1b. If Novartis’s drug is approved, Bayer will manufacture the product for Novartis from 2009 onward. In return, Novartis will make royalty payments to Bayer.