In its second acquisition in a little over a month, Sun Pharma has acquired URL generic business from Japanese drug-maker Takeda for an undisclosed amount.

Sun’s wholly-owned subsidiary in the US, Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, has entered into a definitive agreement with Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda), to buy the URL Pharma generic business, Sun said.

URL Pharma Inc, formerly a privately held Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical company, had been acquired by Takeda America Holdings in June 2012 for $ 800 million.

In fact, early last month, Sun had entered into an agreement to acquire DUSA, a US-based dermatology company, for about $230 million (over Rs 1,200 crore) in cash.

Sun’s last buy, of Israeli generic drugs-maker Taro, had seen a multi-country battle over three years. A Sun official had said after the DUSA acquisition that it would fund the transaction from its kitty of $1 billion.

URL buy

With the acquisition of URL Pharma, Takeda had become a leader in gout therapy by adding Colcrys to its portfolio, and integrating its research. Colcrys is the only Food and Drug Administration approved single-ingredient oral colchicine product available in the US, a Takeda note said. Net sales for Colcrys totalled $155 million from June 1 to September 30, 2012, it added.

According to the agreement with Caraco, Takeda will retain ownership of Colcrys, besides being exclusively responsible for the marketing and promotion of Colcrys. Upon completion of the sale, the non-Colcrys assets of URL Pharma will be owned and managed by Caraco, it added. The deal required regulatory approvals.

Douglas Cole, President of Takeda US said: “URL Pharma has many great assets and Takeda was committed to finding a buyer for the remaining business that would be dedicated to leveraging all that URL Pharma has to offer.”

jyothi.datta@thehindu.co.in

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