October 9, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Impax Laboratories, Inc. , located in Hayward, Calif., announced today that it is acquiring Tower Holdings, Inc. The deal includes subsidiaries CorePharma LLC and Amedra Pharmaceuticals LLC, and Lineage Therapeutics, Inc. The deal is for $700 million in cash.
Impax is a specialty pharmaceutical company that has a successful generic component that targets high-value solid oral and alternative dosage from Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA), and a branded business component focused on developing CNS products. The generic division is Global Pharmaceuticals. The acquired companies bring a portfolio of commercial products, including Albenza, seven complementary generic products for the treatment of invasive tapeworm infections, and a pipeline of 5 approved generic products that are not yet on the market. In addition, 11 regulatory applications are awaiting approval and 35 more products are at various stages of development. This pipeline of 50 or more products represents potential U.S. annual sales of $10.7 billion.
“This transaction is an important step forward in executing our plan to drive growth and create value through strategic acquisitions that enhance our existing strategies,” said Impax president and CEO Fred Wilkinson in a statement. “The Companies will add a growing, highly profitable, commercial portfolio of generics as well as a lead product in a new brand franchise, which will enhance our brand division and enable us to utilize our brand commercial infrastructure more efficiently. The acquisition also adds a branded and generic pipeline that includes a number of near-term opportunities.”
The company also plans to add a facility or facilities in New Jersey that will focus on R&D, manufacturing, packaging and supply chain management.
Tower Holdings, Inc., is privately held and includes the subsidiaries Mountain, LLC, Amedra Pharmaceuticals LLC, Trail Services, Inc., CorePharma, LLC, and Lineage Therapeutics, Inc.
“We are pleased with the progress we have made across our Companies with an emphasis on the successful implementation of a Quality Improvement Program, which resulted in recent product approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” said Christopher Worrell, Tower Holdings CEO in a statement. “Both Impax and the Companies have a proven record of developing high value specialty products, and we look forward to being a critical contributor to the future growth strategy and value creation for Impax.”
A class action lawsuit against Impax is apparently still ongoing, with a deadline of October 13, 2014, revolving around Impax issuing materially false and misleading statements and/or failing to disclose quality control issues at its Taiwan production facility. “The lawsuit claims that when this adverse information entered the market, the price of Impax’s securities dropped, damaging investors.”
