Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc (WPI.N) has acquired privately held generic drug developer Specifar Pharmaceuticals SA for $562 million in cash, expanding its global footprint. Watson said on Wednesday it expects the deal to immediately add to 2011 non-GAAP earnings. Specifar is a third-party product developer, with some 400 marketing authorizations licensed to third parties for sale in 36 countries, predominantly in Europe. It has eight products currently filed in the European Union and additional products in development. Specifar's pipeline includes a generic tablet version of Nexium (esomeprazole), which could be available in certain European markets as early as the fourth quarter of 2011.
Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Watson) is an integrated global pharmaceutical company engaged in the development, manufacturing, marketing, sale and distribution of generic and brand pharmaceutical products. Shares of WPI remained unchanged at $61.84. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $39.34 and as high as $63.85. On average, 1160280 shares of WPI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
Source
