Japan’s Shionogi To Buy Sciele Of U.S. For $1.4 Billion
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
Shionogi of Japan plans to pay $1.4 billion to acquire the U.S. firm Sciele Pharma in a foreign expansion move. The company becomes the latest in a string of Japanese pharmaceutical companies to buy firms abroad as Japan moves to reduce the prices of drugs for its citizens. Based partly on its best-seller drug Crestor (rosuvastatin) for lowering cholesterol, 82 percent of Shionogi's sales currently come from Japan. The purchase would expand the Japanese company's research and development stafff and provide it with its own U.S. sales staff. Shionogi suffered its slowest growth in profit in the first half of this year even though sales increased by 3 percent. (Click here for more