Shionogi paying $1.4B to acquire Sciele

Shionogi has joined a lineup of Japanese pharma companies turning to buyouts as a central method for diversifying their companies and prospects. Shionogi is paying $1.4 billion to buy Atlanta-based Sciele Pharma. At $31 a share, Shionogi's bid is a 61 percent premium over Friday's close. Sciele develops and sells therapeutics for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, infectious diseases and immunological disorders and cancer and related chronic pain. While the bulk of its organization is involved in sales, Sciele also has an active R&D program.

"This acquisition will give us a strong platform in the United States to launch products that are currently in the Shionogi and Sciele pipelines," says Shionogi's Dr. Isao Teshirogi.

Japanese healthcare companies have spent more than $17 billion in acquisitions so far this year.

- check out Shionogi's release
- read the report from the Financial Times
- here's the report from Tech Journal South

ALSO: With Gilead Sciences soon to be the last independent big-cap biotech left in San Francisco, the local newspaper wonders when it too will be bought out. Report

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