Biovail Aquires Two Drug Firms for $190 Million

(Mississauga, Canada) has acquired two pharmaceutical companies for about US$190 million. One is Pharma Pass LLC (Irvine, CA, USA) and the other is Pharma Pass, SA, which is based in France.

Pharma Pass is a developer of advanced oral controlled-release technologies and formulations licensed to pharmaceutical companies. As part of the transaction, Bioavail has acquired a number of new drugs under development. These include an enhanced absorption fenofibrate product for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and an enhanced absorption venlafaxine product for the treatment of depression. Biovail believes that improvements in the absorption and delivery of these compounds can significantly improve their performance.

"With this transaction, we have acquired not only a novel advanced drug delivery platform and two exciting enhanced absorption formulations but have also significantly expanded Biovail's pipeline potential with numerous product development programs targeting commercialization in 2005 to 2007,” said Eugene Melnyk, chairman and CEO of Biovail.




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