Endo Pharmaceuticals Shells Out $130 Million for Nearly 70 Pipeline Programs From Aspen Pharmacare

May 11, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

DUBLIN -- Endo International has continued its trend of expanding its portfolio through acquisitions, announcing a $130 million deal to acquire a large portfolio of anti-pain anti-infectives, cardiovascular and other therapeutics areas from Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, the company said this morning.

The deal includes products that are currently on the market, as well as drug therapies that are currently in developmental stages, the company said. Endo acquired 60 on-market products and nearly 70 pipeline programs in research phases. Last year the approved products acquired from Aspen generated $28 million in revenue, Endo said in its announcement.

The drugs that are under development are expected to be ready for market over the next few years. Endo officials said they expect the transaction to close sometime in the third quarter 2015 and to be “immediately accretive to earnings.”

The deal is part of the Irish company’s plan to grow its international pharmaceutical business to represent about 25 percent of the company’s annual revenue. The portfolio of products to be acquired from Aspen Holdings will be incorporated into Endo's Litha Healthcare Group portfolio and is expected to increase Litha's pro-forma 2015 revenues by 30 percent and pro-forma pharmaceutical product revenues by 60 percent, the company said.

Litha, headquartered in Midrand, South Africa, has three main divisions: Litha Pharma focuses on originator, generic and complementary medicines; Litha Medical focuses on devices, consumables and equipment and Litha Biotech focuses on human vaccines.

Rajiv De Silva, Endo’s chief executive officer, said the transaction will expand the company’s research and development pipeline and position the company for future organic growth with the addition of the 70 products acquired from Aspen.

“Endo continues to grow, diversify and optimize its international portfolio and, specifically, further expand its reach into hospital and pharmacy markets in South Africa,” De Silva said in a statement.

The deal with Aspen is the latest in a string of Endo acquisitions. In January Endo acquired Auxilium Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion. That transaction broadened Endo’s offerings of urological and orthopedic therapies, including Xiaflex, Testopel and Stendra. The Auxilium deal came on the heels of deals to buy Boca Pharmacal and DAVA Pharmaceuticals. The latter two deals helped push Endor’s sales of generic drugs in the first quarter of 2015 by 68 percent. Generic sales totaled $357 million during the first quarter.

In March Endo launched NATESTO (testosterone nasal gel), a nasal gel for testosterone replacement therapy in adult males diagnosed with hypogonadism. The drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014. Endo acquired the rights to NATESTO in the U.S. and Mexico from Trimel BioPharma SRL, a subsidiary of Trimel Pharmaceuticals , for $25 million plus milestone payments.

Endo’s stock was trading down this morning at $86.04 per share, down from the open of $87.82 per share.