August 26, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
LAVAL, Quebec – In less than one year, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. has doubled its U.S. corporate footprint in Bridgewater, N.J. The company leased an additional 310,000 square feet of space, NJBIZ reported this morning.
The expansion of its New Jersey space is coming on the heels of a number of acquisitions made by Valeant, including the July acquisition of Egyptian-based Amoun Pharmaceuticals, which will expand Valeant’s gastrointestinal product pipeline and the more recent acquisition of Raleigh, N.C.-based Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the maker of the world’s first female sex drive drug. However, it is unlikely the expansion is related to Valeant’s $1 billion acquisition of Sprout, which currently has 34 employees. Sprout announced plans to increase its employment to approximately 200 following regulatory approval of Addyi, but at the time of last week’s acquisition, Valeant said Sprout was scheduled to remain in its Raleigh offices.
Valeant is moving quickly to bring the company under its umbrella. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the third-quarter of this year. Under the terms of the deal, Valeant will pay approximately $500 million upon the closing of the transaction and an additional $500 million in the first quarter of 2016, plus a share of future profits based upon the achievement of certain milestones, the company said in a statement.
The new space gives Valeant a footprint of approximately 610,000 square feet at the New Jersey site. Valeant established its U.S. site in 2014 following its 2013 acquisition of Bausch & Lomb for $8.7 billion.
The acquisition of Sprout is not surprising when one takes into account that in June the company tapped Robert L. Rosiello, a noted M&A expert, as the company’s new chief financial officer. Rosiello is a force when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, something that is necessary in the current state of the biotech industry, which has seen numerous acquisitions over the past few years. Valeant, which specializes in eye medications, including glaucoma-treating medication Vesneo, has been one of the central players in the latest pharmaceutical and biotech trend of growth through acquisition. Last year Valeant lost out to Actavis plc on its bid to acquire Botox-maker Allergan Inc. , however in April the company said the effort still generated $287 million in net profit for Valeant. In April though, Valeant won a bidding war against Endo Pharmaceuticals to acquire Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. , the maker of Xifaxan, a drug used to treat traveler’s diarrhea and liver disease, for approximately $11 billion in cash. The completion of that deal made the Valeant one of the leading providers of treatments for gastrointestinal disorders.
New Jersey is becoming a major center for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The growth of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries has several drivers in New Jersey, including a lower cost of living (in comparison to other pharma hubs), strong research from area colleges and universities, a legacy big pharma footprint and a supportive state government, Debbie Hart, president and chief executive officer of BioNJ, a trade group for research-based life sciences companies, told BioSpace in July.
