Two years after it enriched itself with 16 Sanofi drugs, Germany’s Stada Arzneimittel is purchasing another clutch of consumer health brands across multiple European countries.
Stada is dropping an undisclosed sum on a range of Sanofi consumer health products with “well-established” footholds in places such as Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Spain and the U.K., plus Nordic countries. The deal covers several brands, including the pain relief med Antistax, the allergy eye drops Lomudal and Opticrom, Omnivit vitamins and painkillers AAS and Dolalgial plus Bila-Git for gallbladder complaints, Stada said Wednesday.
Stada will finance the transaction with a mix of cash from its balance sheet and existing debt facilities. It aims to close the deal in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The purchase marks the “next step” in Stada’s quest to grow in the European consumer health market, the company’s Western Europe and Germany head Stephan Eder said in a statement
“Stada’s extensive sales, marketing and distribution network throughout Europe, along with our long-established partnerships with pharmacists, will enable the group to grow these brands by also developing additional offerings,” he added.
Consumer healthcare comprises one of three pillars in Stada’s business alongside specialty medicines and generics. The company operates predominantly in Western European countries.
Two summers ago, Stada struck a similar deal with Sanofi for more than a dozen consumer health brands spanning 13 European countries. That portfolio purchase covered cold and flu meds, skincare and food supplement brands.
Prior to that, Stada in early 2020 tapped GSK for 15 over-the-counter drugs in a deal worth at least 300 million euros ($325 million).
For GSK, the asset sale was part of a broader ambition to spin out its consumer healthcare business into the standalone company Haleon, which formally flew the nest in July 2022.
That move formed part of a broader spinoff trend across the industry, with similar maneuvers having been charted by Johnson & Johnson with its OTC spinoff Kenvue, Pfizer and Mylan with Viatris and Novartis’ ongoing effort to hive off Sandoz.
Despite repeat over-the-counter sales to Stada, Sanofi continues to operate its own large consumer healthcare venture. The division was a key revenue driver for the French pharma in 2023’s first quarter, growing sales 11.2% to 1.5 billion euros (about $1.7 billion).