India's Lupin offloading 2 generic drugs to close Gavis deal

Mumbai-based Lupin Pharmaceuticals said it will offload two generic drugs in order to close its deal to acquire Gavis Pharmaceuticals in an $850 million transaction it announced last year.

Both companies said they have agreed to sell the rights and assets to doxycycline monohydrate capsules and mesalamine extended release capsules to New Jersey-based G&W Laboratories.

 
Lupin CEO Nilesh Gupta  

The sale was mandated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which said keeping the drugs would be "anti-competitive" under its rules because the merger would have combined two of four companies that currently market one of the drugs, according to a report by India's NDTV, and would have eliminated one of "only a few" companies likely to enter the market for the other.

Under the deal, Lupin will transfer Gavis' manufacturing technology and while G&W is getting up and running, Lupin will also supply finished product for two years.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With the acquisition of Gavis, Lupin will gain access to 66 generic drugs in the United States and it expands the company's pipeline in dermatology and other "high value and niche generics," according to the report. The combined company will have a portfolio of 110 "in-market" products and 175 others pending approval.

- here's the report from NDTV