Date: 2013-08-30
Type of information: Company acquisition
Acquired company: Acton Pharmaceuticals (USA)
Acquiring company: Meda (Sweden)
Amount: $ 135 million (€102 million) and milestones
Terms: * On October 21, 2013, Meda has announced that the acquisition of Acton Pharmaceuticals and its proprietary product Aerospan has now been completed. The purchase price for Acton amounted to 135 MUSD, on a cash and debt free basis. In addition, there is a milestone payment of 10 million USD and royalty based milestones.* On August 30, 2013, Meda has signed an agreement to acquire the US development company Acton Pharmaceuticals, including the proprietary product Aerospan. Aerospan is an inhaler for the treatment of asthma that contains the active substance flunisolide. The product is approved by the FDA and has shown in clinical studies to have a high deposition of active drug in the airways as a result of a built-in inhalation chamber.The purchase price for Acton amounts to $135 million USD. In addition, there is a milestone payment of $10 million and royalty based milestones. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions and the approval of the US competition authorities. Existing credit facilities will fund the acquisition.
Details: In a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study, published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Aerospan show no significant negative effect on linear growth in children with asthma. This is an important feature of the Aerospan product. FDA has recently approved the addition of data from this study in the prescribing information.The launch of Aerospan is planned to the beginning of 2014. The total US market for inhaled asthma products containing a mono-corticosteroid is estimated at 2 billion USD. The use of spacers is increasing very rapidly. In some markets, more than one third of patients who use inhaled corticosteroids also use a spacer. Aerospan is the only product registered in the US market with a built-in spacer. Meda’ s target is to reach a minimum of 2 billion SEK in sales within 5 years.
Related: Allergic diseases
Respiratory diseases
