Anticompetitive acquisition forces generics sale

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Anticompetitive acquisition forces generics sale

Home/Pharma News | Posted 08/05/2015 0 Post your comment

US generics maker CorePharma has had to sell its rights of two generics in order to merge with fellow US drug company Impax Laboratories (Impax). The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled that Impax’s acquisition of CorePharma would have been anticompetitive unless CorePharma sold its rights and assets for pilocarpine, a drug used to treat dry mouth and glaucoma, and ursodiol, a treatment for liver and gall bladder diseases.

The merger came as Impax completed its acquisition of Tower Holdings, which includes the generics subsidiaries CorePharma and Amedra. Impax will now be reorganized into two divisions: an ‘Impax Generics’ division and a brand-name products division called ‘Impax Specialty Pharma’.

‘The acquisition significantly expands our commercialized generic portfolio to 47 [drug] products and the number of potential generic [drug] product launches in 2015 of up to 18 products, nine of which are already approved’, said Mr Fred Wilkinson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Impax.

Only two companies, Lannet and Actavis, currently market pilocarpine tablets, according to the FTC. Although CorePharma was not selling the drug, it held an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market it in the US.

Rights to the two drugs have now been acquired by Ireland-based generics company Perrigo, which acquired the Irish biotech firm Elan in 2013 [1]. Impax and CorePharma must provide support to help Perrigo obtain FDA approval.

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Reference
1. GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Perrigo expands global ambitions with Elan buy [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2015 May 8]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Pharma-News/Perrigo-expands-global-ambitions-with-Elan-buy

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Source: Impax Laboratories