Abbott buys trandolapril rights from Aventis for $300m

03 June 2004 10:26  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--US drugs giant Abbott Laboratories said Thursday it has agreed to buy the rights to heart drug trandolapril from Franco-German pharmaceuticals cmpany Aventis for $300m (Euro246m).

The deal covers worldwide commercial rights, with the exception of Japan, for trandolapril and the trandolapril/verapil combination. It also gives Abbott global manufacturing rights for trandolapril and trandolapril/verapil.

Aventis, which currently makes the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor trandolapril for itself and Abbott, said the $300m sale price included milestone payments. In addition, Aventis will receive royalties on future sales.

Aventis will continue to make trandolapril for Abbott until the transfer of manufacturing technology to Abbott has been completed.

Abbott, which two months ago bought diabetes test maker TheraSense for $1.2bn, already has exclusive marketing rights to trandolapril in certain markets, including the US, and shares marketing rights with Aventis in some other international markets.

Trandolapril is marketed by Abbott under the trade names of Mavik and Gopten. It is sold by Abbott as a fixed combination product with verapamil under the brand name Tarka. Aventis, which is being taken over by French pharmaceuticals company Sanofi-Synthelabo, sells trandolapril under the trade name Odrik and trandolapril/verapamil under the brand Ocadrik.

A spokeswoman for Aventis said the trandolapril deal was unconnected with the takeover by Sanofi. She said the decision to sell trandolapril rights was part of an independent portfolio reshaping and was not a regulatory requirement for the Sanofi deal.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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