Australian group Amcor has confirmed that talks about a takeover of Alcan’s pharmaceutical packaging business are still ongoing but says that no binding agreement has yet been reached.
Rumours suggest that US drug giant Pfizer is considering a bid for Turkish generics group Abdi Ibrahim as part of its strategy of expanding in emerging markets.
BASF and Sinopec are to invest $1.4bn (€1bn) in expanding their Chinese specialty chemical joint venture, adding 10 plants and increasing capacity at three existing sites.
The number of pharma employees in New Jersey, US fell by 1,400 in 2008, with R&D expenditure, capital investment and product trials also declining, according to a report.
As rumours of a failed Sanofi Aventis’ bid for a US rival circulate, F&S’ analysis of M&As is well timed, even if its conclusions will be difficult reading for a Big Pharma sector set on replenishing pipelines via big deals.
Sanofi Aventis will pay Pfizer €30m ($41m) for a former Exubera manufacturing plant in Frankfurt-Höchst, Germany that was due to be bought by inhaled insulin specialist MannKind.
IT solutions firm Merge Healthcare has won the race to buy eClinical specialist etrials, beating previous suitor Bio-Imaging Technologies whose takeover bid collapsed on Monday.
GSK and Pfizer’s HIV joint venture (JV) may be subject to an investigation by UK competition watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), according to various media reports.
in-Pharmatechnologist's Nick Taylor looks back on BIO 2009, an event at which uncertainty about the development of the biotechnology industry’s future shape dominated proceedings.
Pfizer is monitoring opportunities in follow-on biologics and continuing to look for small to mid-sized deals as it plans for life without Lipitor, global revenues of which fell by 13 per cent in Q1.
Domino Printing is expanding its presence in Portugal through the €7m ($9m) acquisition of Labeljet SA and its subsidiary Marque TDI, which is currently a distributor for the traceability specialist.
Although the downturn has slowed Big Pharma’s investment in China, the country’s wide ranging healthcare reforms and changing economic landscape still provide considerable opportunities says PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
MDRNA is selling its manufacturing business to US generics firm Par Pharmaceuticals in a bid to boost its coffers and complete its transformation into a purely RNAi focused organisation.
Sanofi-Aventis had a €5bn ($6.6bn) bid for Solvay’s pharma business rejected, according to media reports, but several other companies are believed to be interested in the Belgian firm.
Canada’s Winpak has gained an exclusive license to use Reynolds Packaging’s manufacturing know-how in the production of packaging for the drug and healthcare industries.
Novartis is looking to buy an additional 39 per cent of its majority-owned subsidiary Novartis India for around 4.4bn rupees ($87m), or 351 rupees per share.
The pharmaceutical rumour mill is still spinning with the latest speculation that UK drug major GSK is interested in Botox manufacturer Allergan causing the US firm’s share price to leap 13 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange.
The global economic downturn, impending blockbuster patent expiries and the wave of consolidation sweeping the pharmaceutical industry will drive demand for Patheon’s restructuring service according to CEO Wesley Wheeler.
The year of the mega-merger continues with Merck & Co’s move to buy Schering-Plough for $41.1bn, with the intention of boosting its pipeline, entering new markets and creating a “powerful biologics presence”.
Merck & Co is to buy fellow US drug major Schering Plough for $41bn (€32.6bn) to boost its pipeline in the face of impending patent expiry for key products.
Genentech believes a far-sighted approach to patent expiration, unique and life saving drugs and an unrivalled scientific culture will protect it from recession and ensure greater growth than Roche envisions.
Indian generics firm Piramal Healthcare says it "has no intention to dilute current ownership levels," but has not commented on rumours that it is in talks with French firm Sanofi Aventis.
Genentech used its investor meeting to retaliate against criticisms made by Roche, saying it will debate its financial model “anywhere, anytime with anyone”.
The Indian pharmaceutical and biotech sectors may see more M&A activity this year with rumours that GSK, Sanofi Aventis and Merck KGaA are on the look out for potential deals.
French drug major Sanofi Aventis is in talks about taking over market leading Brazilian generics firm Medley, according to reports the country’s Valor Economico newspaper.
New Sanofi Aventis chief Christopher Viebacher has virtually ruled out major acquisitions, eschewing the trend started by Pfizer’s $68bn (€53bn) swoop for Wyeth in favour of an anti-mega merger stance like that adopted by UK rival GSK.
The strained relationship between Genentech and Roche has been revealed in a SEC filing, which details their differing valuations and accusations of misleading financial models.
Australian packaging company Amcor is in talks with mining giant Rio Tinto about buying part of the latter’s Alcan Packaging Division, confirming speculation that emerged late last year.
Roche has stepped up its pursuit of Genentech, launching a hostile bid of $42bn after growing frustrated with the lack of progress over the past six months.
Pfizer’s $68bn swoop for Wyeth looks set to start an epidemic of merger madness according to comments by Frost & Sullivan (F&S) analyst Shabeer Hussain.
Pfizer has confirmed it has entered into an agreement to buy Wyeth in a deal worth $68bn, which it hopes will strengthen its position in anticipation of a challenging few years.
Sanofi-Aventis is to sell its liquid drug manufacturing plant in Colomiers, southwest France, to industry specialist Unither for an as yet undisclosed sum.
King Pharmaceuticals’ $1.6bn (€1.2bn) acquisition of Alpharma heads a busy week of deals that has seen J&J agree to pay $438m for Omrix and India’s Sun further its presence in the US narcotic APIs sector through the purchase of Chattem Chemicals.
Cost cutting has sustained pharma profits in the faltering global economy, however top executives are starting to realise that reducing R&D capacity may not have been the smartest move in an era of weak pipelines and impending patent expiry, according...
Robert Sexauer, CEO of biopharmaceuticals group RCP Therapeutics, says the R&D investment deal signed with FirstPoint Biotech shows the attractiveness of the firm’s nano-medical pipeline, particularly given the current economic climate.
Eli Lilly has agreed to acquire ImClone for $6.5bn and in doing so appears to have snatched the biotech away from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), which first tabled a bid back in July.
Teva and Kowa have set their sights on Japan’s $4.6bn (€3.1bn) generics market with their development and manufacturing joint venture Teva-Kowa Pharma.
Sanofi-Aventis’ €1.8bn ($2.6bn) offer for Czech generics firm Zentiva has been unanimously accepted by the latter firm’s board after four months of wrangling that has seen the bid increase by 9.5 per cent.
The Tel-Aviv District Court has found in favour of Sun Pharmaceuticals in its long running struggle to acquire Israeli drug and pharmaceutical ingredient maker Taro Pharmaceutical Industries.
US protein manufacture and development services provider American Peptide Company (APC) says that its parent company, Ito Life Sciences (ILS), is to be acquired by fellow Japanese firm Otsuka Chemical.
Brookwood Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of SurModics, has acquired the exclusive rights to all pharmaceutical applications of PharmaSol’s nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) technology.
UK-based Sinclair Pharmaceuticals has entered into a manufacturing
and distribution agreement with Wockhardt, an Indian pharmaceutical
and biotech company.
Three of India´s large pharmaceutical manufacturers, Dr Reddy's,
Ranbaxy Laboratories and Shilpa Medicare have just announced new
merger and acquisition (M&A) deals.
