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Thursday, September 3, 2009
Sepracor confirms its sale for $2.6B to Japanese drug maker
By Rodney Brown
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Sepracor Inc. has confirmed the rumors circulating yesterday -- it will be acquired by Japanese pharmaceutical Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. for approximately $2.6 billion in cash. The price is almost 50 percent above the average closing price of Sepracor stock over the last six months.
According to the two companies, Sepracor will be run as a subsidiary of Dainippon Sumitomo, keeping its headquarters in Marlborough and its name and branding. So one of its most popular drugs, the sleep aid Lunesta, will continue to be sold as a Sepracor (Nasdaq: SEPR) product, along with its asthma treatment Xopenex and other drugs.
In addition to getting Sepracor’s drug portfolio and pipeline, Dainippon Sumitomo officials said that they deal would give them access Sepracor’s expertise in helping bring Dainippon Sumitomo’s own schizophrenia drug, lurasidone, which is in Phase 3 clinical development, to approval and market.
Officials at Dainippon Sumitomo say the company will finance the $2.6 billion purchase using committed bank facilities and existing cash resources. The sale should close in the fourth quarter of 2009, they predict.
Dainippon Sumitomo primarily develops and markets drugs for hypertension and angina, digestive tract problems and circulatory issues. The company has approximately 5,000 employees worldwide.
In May, Sepracor decided not to go ahead with marketing Lunesta through its marketing partner GlaxoSmithKline PLC in Europe under the proposed name Lunivia after the European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s version of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, approved Lunesta for sale, but didn’t grant the request by Sepracor to designate it as a new active substance.
For 2008, Sepracor made a profit of $515 million on revenue of $1.3 billion.
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