Health & Fitness
Health and Fitness
Health and Fitness
Tue, December 21, 2010
Mon, December 20, 2010
Forest and Gruenenthal Announce Foresta?s Acquisition of Gruenenthala?s Cystic Fibrosis Franchise in Europe
AACHEN, Germany & NEW YORK--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--The Gruenenthal Group and Forest Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: FRX), today announced that Forest Healthcare B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Gruenenthal GmbH, have entered into an agreement whereby Forest has acquired all rights currently held by Gruenenthal for colistin and all rights previously licensed by Forest to Gruenenthal for Colobreathe. Colistin is an antibiotic used to treat the principal bacterial infections in cystic fibrosis patients, and Colobreathe is a novel dry powder inhaler containing colistin developed by Forest and currently being reviewed by the European Medicines Agency. Forest holds market authorizations for and markets colistin in the UK and Ireland, while Gruenenthal holds market authorizations for and markets colistin in several other European markets. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. With this transaction, Forest will expand its European cystic fibrosis franchise and become a major distributor of colistin in Europe. Gruenenthal divested the colistin franchise as part of its strategy to focus its business on its core pain franchise.
Harald F. Stock, CEO of the Gruenenthal Group said, "The divestiture is the next logical step in implementing our strategy to focus on development and marketing of innovative pain medication. To achieve this objective, we must part from businesses such as our CF franchise that are not core business in order to enable us to re-invest into our strategic focus areas. With Forest we have found an attractive buyer for the CF business. Forest is expanding its EU market by acquiring the additional CF products from Gruenenthal. We are convinced that Forest will open new and promising perspectives for CF patients.a
Howard Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Forest, said, "We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Gruenenthal on the heels of the recently announced collaboration between our two companies in the area of pain. Acquiring colistin from Gruenenthal is a strategic fit for Forest because it is a first step to expand our commercial capabilities in Europe in addition to our existing presence in the UK and Ireland. This acquisition also strengthens our presence in the cystic fibrosis market in Europe which is further enhanced by regaining all rights to Colobreathe, a novel dry powder formulation of colistin we have developed and previously licensed to Gruenenthal, and which after approval will be available to cystic fibrosis patients across Europe.a
About Colistin
Colistin belongs to a class of antibiotics called polymyxins. It can be used to treat chest infections in people with cystic fibrosis when these are caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Colistin is usually administered to these patients by inhalation. Forest has developed a dry powder inhaler containing colistin under the brand name Colobreathe and submitted it for approval with the EMEA, the European Medicine Agency. The submission is currently under review by EMEA.
About The Gruenenthal Group
The Gruenenthal Group is an independent, family-owned international research based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Aachen, Germany. Building on its unique position in pain, its objective is to become the most patient-centric company to be a leader in therapy innovation. Altogether, the Gruenenthal Group has affiliates in 35 countries worldwide. Gruenenthal products are sold in more than 100 countries and approx. 4,900 employees are working for the Gruenenthal Group globally. In 2009, Grnenthal reached revenues of about 881 Mio a'.
More information: [ www.grunenthal.com ].
Current press material is available in the press section at [ www.grunenthal.com ].
About Forest Laboratories
Forest Laboratoriesa™ (NYSE: FRX) longstanding global partnerships and track record developing and marketing pharmaceutical products in the United States have yielded its well-established central nervous system and cardiovascular franchises and innovations in anti-infective medicine. The Companya™s pipeline, the most robust in its history, includes product candidates in all stages of development across a wide range of therapeutic areas. The Company is headquartered in New York, NY. To learn more, visit [ www.FRX.com ].
Except for the historical information contained herein, this release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the difficulty of predicting FDA approvals, the acceptance and demand for new pharmaceutical products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the timely development and launch of new products, and the risk factors listed from time to time in Forest Laboratories' Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and any subsequent SEC filings.
