Irvine-based drug maker Anchen Pharmaceuticals Inc. has struck a deal to be acquired by Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc. for $410 million.
Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Par has annual sales of just more than $1 billion. It said it was buying Anchen to expand its generic drug offerings.
Par and other generic makers are looking for deals as a number of major product patents held by other companies approach expirations.
Getting Anchen “will expand our portfolio of high-value market products, including sustainable products with longer life cycles,” said Paul Campanelli, president of Par’s generic division, on a conference call with investors and analysts.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Par is using cash and a $350 million loan to buy Anchen.
Anchen, which has about 220 workers, is a privately held specialty drug company that develops generic products on a niche basis (see Drug Maker’s List, page 29).
It has five products on the market, including a generic version of Wellbutrin XL, a popular antidepressant, and one of Cipro, a drug that’s used to treat anthrax and bacterial infections.
Par said that Anchen is profitable and expects to launch eight to 10 niche generic drugs over the next two years.
Anchen was founded in 2002 by Chih-Ming Chen, who is also a cofounder of Andrx Corp., a generic drug maker that was based in South Florida. Andrx was eventually sold to Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., a New Jersey-based drug maker founded by Anaheim Hills resident Allen Chao.
At Anchen’s inception, the company rented space from Stason Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Irvine-based company that offers services including research and development and drug production. In 2004, Anchen built a plant and research and development facility in Irvine with 26,000 square feet of space.
Anchen also had parallel development in Chen’s native Taiwan, buying a Taiwanese company, Empax Pharma, in 2003.
In 2006, Anchen built a new, 45,000-square-foot facility to produce generic Wellbutrin XL.
Anchen, like other generic drug makers, has also faced its share of legal matters over patents. For example, Abbott Laboratories of suburban Chicago sued Anchen last October over a U.S. patent for Zemplar, a drug used to treat people with kidney disease.
