(Reuters) – AstraZeneca said on Monday it had finalised plans to divest its Crohn’s disease drug Entocort by selling U.S. rights to the medicine to Perrigo (PRGO.N) for $380 million.
The move is part of an “externalization” drive by the British drugmaker, which is selling non-core products to help it fill a short-term revenue gap caused by older products going off product, while investing in a pipeline of new medicines.
Entocort had U.S. sales of $89 million in the first nine months of 2015.
The deal, which is expected to complete by the end of 2015, follows AstraZeneca’s sale of rights to Entocort outside the United States in July to Tillotts Pharma, part of the Zeria Group.
AstraZeneca said its earnings per share outlook for the year, which was upgraded at third-quarter results earlier this month, would not change as a result of the Perrigo transaction.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Jason Neely)
Five years ago, GSK made headlines when it hired Emma Walmsley to become the first woman to run a major pharmaceutical company. Now the Big Pharma has brought in another woman to control the company’s finances. Julie Brown will be GSK’s next chief financial officer. Brown, currently the chief operating and financial officer at fashion and beauty brand Burberry Group, is set to replace Iain Mackay.
Moderna created a new role responsible for “building out the company’s organization to support its growing pipeline.” Starting first thing 2023, Juan Andres, Moderna’s manufacturing head, will step into this new role under the title president of strategic partnerships and enterprise expansion, the company said Thursday.
The latest takeover is anticipated to boost the presence of Torrent in the dermatology segment. Indian company Torrent Pharmaceuticals has signed a definitive agreement for the complete acquisition of Curatio Healthcare for $245.16m (Rs20bn).
