Sucampo sees a number of advantages to buying Japanese CDMO R-Tech Ueno, not the least of which will be owning the manufacturing for the one drug that it sells.
The Bethesda, MD-based company Wednesday said it had a deal to buy all the shares of R-Tech Ueno in a deal it said adds up to ¥33 billion ($278 million). The Japanese company manufactures Sucampo's chronic constipation drug Amitiza for Sucampo and its sales partners for the product: Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Mylan ($MYL) and Harbin Gloria Pharmaceuticals, which sells the drug in China. R-Tech Ueno also manufactures and until earlier this year licensed to Sucampo the rights to the ophthalmic drug Rescula outside of Japan.
Ueno has a manufacturing plant in Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, and Sucampo said getting control over production will be a big boost. "By securing a larger portion of the global economics of Amitiza and control over the manufacturing and supply chain for the product, we will not only increase our revenues but also create the opportunity for greater efficiencies," Sucampo CEO Peter Greenleaf said in a announcement.
The U.S. company said it expects the deal to add $55 million to $60 million in net income--or $1.20 to $1.30 a share in fiscal 2016--from the deal and says it can squeeze about $5 million in savings from the combined operation. It also will pick up some products the Japanese company had in its pipeline. Sucampo earlier this month reported Q2 sales of about $35 million and net income of $9.5 million, with earnings of $0.21 a share.
Sucampo last year settled patent litigation that will allow Par Pharmaceutical to market a generic version of its constipation drug beginning in 2021, paying half the profits to Sucampo and Takeda. Sucampo and Takeda last year also launched a direct-to-consumer campaign directed at chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) in patients that are 45 and older.
- here's the release