Medicis Buys Graceway Pharmaceuticals in $455 Million Bankruptcy Sale
Medicis recently announced it was the successful bidder at a bankruptcy auction conducted by Graceway Pharmaceuticals, LLC for substantially all of the outstanding US and Canadian pharmaceutical assets of Graceway. Graceway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 29, 2011.
Under the terms of its bid, Medicis will pay to Graceway a purchase price of $455 million. In turn, Medicis will receive Graceway’s commercial pharmaceutical product portfolio, which includes prescription products in the dermatology, respiratory, and women’s health specialties, and certain other assets. Medicis will add to its research and development pipeline a formulation-stage dermatology project with an applied-for patent and projected annual peak sales in excess of $200 million; a Phase II dermatology new chemical entity product currently patent-protected through 2016 with a potential patent term extension of up to 5 years and projected peak sales in excess of $200 million; and a nearer-term women’s health product that has completed Phase II and will soon enter Phase III with an applied-for patent and projected annual peak sales in excess of $100 million.
Additionally, Medicis will have the opportunity to launch two recently approved line extensions for the Zyclara franchise, which has several applied-for patents currently under accelerated examination in the US and related patent protection in Canada already obtained.
“We are pleased to announce this strategic acquisition of the Graceway product portfolio, and the ability to broaden our presence within dermatology,” said Jonah Shacknai, Chairman and CEO of Medicis. “We anticipate near-term positive cash flow as we market certain newly acquired Graceway products that are currently approved for various dermatological and women’s health conditions. Additionally, we are very pleased to be adding to our pipeline several mid- and late-stage products with a combined annual net sales peak potential of over $500 million in the dermatology and women’s health categories.”
Medicis is a leading independent specialty pharmaceutical company in the
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