Claris to sell injectable drug business and facilities to Baxter

Baxter International has agreed to pay Claris Lifesciences $625m (€598m) for three manufacturing facilities and a portfolio of 11 approved injectable drugs.

The deal – detailed in a Claris filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) last week – will see Baxter take charge of a $100m a year business, a pipeline of generic injectable drug candidates and production and R&D capabilities.

The three facilities – in Ahmedabad, India – supply injectable drug products to India and a number of international markets, including the US. They also house R&D laboratories.

The US drug firm will install new technologies and make strategic investments at the three plants, explaining that the aim is to launch seven to nine injectable drug products annually by 2019.

Speculation Claris was looking to sell its injectable drug business – and that Baxter had expressed an interest – emerged in August, prompting the Indian firm to issue a denial