Glaxo pays $155M for Lunesta rights

GlaxoSmithKline will fork over up to $155 million to commercialize the sleep aid Lunesta outside of North America and Japan. Made by Sepracor, the drug will be sold under the brand name Lunivia; it's under regulatory review in Europe, and could get the go-ahead in up to 27 E.U. nations.

Lunesta has been a cash cow for Sepracor, delivering some $567 million in 2006 sales. The market for insomnia drugs in Europe is worth about $500 million--and that's with only 24 percent of insomniacs being treated. In other words, there's lots of upside on the continent.

- see the GlaxoSmithKline reelease
- read the Boston Business Journal report

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