Endo Pharmaceuticals to buy generic drug maker Qualitest for $1.2 billion

Specialty pharmaceutical company Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc, which specialises in high-value branded products, today said that it is acquiring US generic-drug maker Qualitest Pharmaceuticals from private-equity firm Apax Partners for $1.2 billion in cash.

If the acquisition goes through, it would help Philadelphia-based Endo expand its generic and pain drug portfolio as the privately-held Qualitest is the sixth largest generics company in the US and a cost competitive, high quality manufacturer of drugs that have high entry barriers.

Alabama-based Qualitest manufactures controlled substances, which make up approximately 40 per cent of its product portfolio, and liquids, which are roughly 17 per cent of its portfolio.

The company would add a broad range of generics to Endo encompassing 175 product families. Thirty-two of Qualitest's products are listed among the top 250 generics by total prescription volume.

The combined company will have an extensive pipeline of abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) with 46 ANDAs under active FDA review in various therapeutic areas, including pain, urology, as well as oncology and hypertension and an additional 24 ANDAs under development in different therapeutic areas.

Its range covers tablets, capsules, liquids, suspensions, creams, and ointments for anti-hypertensive, analgesics, antibiotics, cough / cold, anti-depressants, and anti-psychotics and sells it through pharmacies and retailers.