Less than a week after buying Sanofi’s Dermik skincare business for $425 million, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is now paying $345 million for the dermatology division being divested by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit.
The division, called Ortho Dermatologics, had revenues of $150 million last year. Its products include the prescription brands Retin-A Micro (tretinoin gel) for acne, Ertaczo (sertaconazole) for athlete’s foot and the wrinkle cream Renova (also tretinoin).
Michael Pearson, Valeant’s chief executive, said that with the Sanofi deal plus the J&J pact, his firm is “well on its way to being one of the leading companies in dermatology”. He stated that skincare “remains an attractive therapeutic area” for Valeant and we are pleased to able to add another strong franchise to our growing operations.”
Valeant has been on a spending spree since its $5.70 billion hostile bid for Cephalon was topped by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ $6.80 billion offer in February. In May, it agreed to pay 314 million euros in cash for AB Sanitas, a branded generics specialist from Lithuania.
The Ortho Dermatologics transaction is subject to the usual closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to be accretive in 2011.
