Mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring

A roundup of company moves and positioning from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and contract service providers.

Basingstoke, UK and Philadelphia, PA (Feb. 20)—Shire plc (www.shire.com) agreed to acquire New River Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.3riverspharma.com) for $2.6 billion. With the move, Shire gains New River's "Vyvanse" (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate), a drug to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. The deal is expected to close in April 2007.

Hafnarfjordur, Iceland (Feb. 13)—Actavis (www.actavis.com) acquired the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) division of Sanmar Specialty Chemicals, Ltd (SSCL, Chennai, India). The move provides Actavis with a FDA-approved manufacturing facility in India and the ability to manufacture its own APIs, which represent the single largest cost component in the company's manufacturing activities. SSCL will also provide API research and development services to Actavis.

Basel, Switzerland (Feb. 5)—Roche (www.roche.com) plans to introduce a new operating model for its global research and development activities that is organized around disease biology areas (DBA). Managed by disease biology area leadership teams (DBLT), they will be located in Basel; Nutley, New Jersey; and Palo Alto, California. Each DBLT will manage compounds from drug discovery through proof of concept, with oversight through to the market.

East Rutherford, NJ (Feb. 5)—Cambrex Corporation's (www.cambrex.com) shareholders approved the sale of the company's bioproducts and biopharma subsidiaries to Lonza Group AG (Basel, Switzerland, www.lonza.com).

Osaka, Japan (Feb. 2)—Tanabe Seiyaku Co. Ltd. (www.tanabe.co.jp/english) and Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation (www.m-pharma.co.jp) agreed to merge, with the closing planned for Oct. 1, 2007. The companies reached a basic merger agreement and have set up a committee to work out the details by May. Board approval of the final agreement is scheduled for May, and a meeting for shareholders' approval is scheduled for late June.

Under the deal, Tanabe is acquiring Mitsubishi Pharma to form a new company, tentatively named Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, as a consolidated subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group. Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group will hold a majority share of the new company.

The combined company will have sales of 407.8 billion yen ($3.4 billion), making it the fifth largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. It will have domestic ethical pharmaceutical sales of 384.7 billion yen, ($3.2 billion).

New York, NY (Feb. 1)—Pfizer, Inc. (www.pfizer.com) plans to acquire BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corporation (King of Prussia, PA, www.biorexis.com). Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the first or second quarter of 2007.

London (Feb. 1)—AstraZeneca (www.astrazeneca.com~) agreed to acquire Arrow Therapeutics Ltd., a privately owned UK biotechnology company, focused on the discovery and development of anti-viral therapies for $150 million. The transaction is expected to close early in 2007.