GSK mulling sales of thrombosis brands and facility to Aspen
pharmafile | June 24, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | Arixtra, GSK, aspen
GlaxoSmithKline says it is considering an offer from South African drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare to take ownership of two thrombosis drugs – Arixtra and Fraxiparine – along with the French facility that makes them.
The fast-growing South African firm wants to secure rights to Arixtra (fondaparinux sodium) and Fraxiparin (nadroparin) on a worldwide basis with the exception of China, Pakistan and India, taking over the bulk of an antithrombotic franchise that generated £420 million ($645m) for GSK last year.
Moreover, it would also take over GSK’s specialised sterile product facility at Notre Dame de Bondeville, near Rouen in France, which currently makes both the products and other products such as vaccine diluents and employs around 700 staff.
GSK’s French unit said it expected all employees to transfer to Aspen if the deal goes through, adding that the plant would continue to provide product filling services for GSK’s vaccines division under contract until 2015. Last September GSK announced a €35 million, three-year investment programme at Notre Dame de Bondeville to supports its vaccine growth plans.
Aspen believes it can impart additional growth into a product franchise that has been declining of late, with 2012 sales down around 18% on the prior year. The declines are largely attributable to Fraxiparine – which was introduced in the 1980s – although newer product Arixtra has also started to slow down dramatically with sales in the first quarter rising just 2% to £49 million.
For GSK the deal gives it an opportunity to hive off a maturing franchise as it focuses on bringing new products to market. Earlier this year the company started to organise the ‘long tail’ of its older products into a new business unit to make it easier to sell off the brands.
GSK has been working with Aspen for several years on a product-based alliance designed to provide a stream of generic drugs for sale in emerging markets, and it currently holds a 19% stake in the Durban-headquartered firm. In 2009, Aspen bought a GSK facility in Bad Oldesloe, Germany.
This is the second possible manufacturing facility deal unveiled by Aspen in a matter of months, after it said in February it was negotiating an offer for a Merck & Co facility in the Oss, the Netherlands, along with rights to a portfolio of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage form products.
Aspen is Africa’s biggest drugmaker with 6,000 employees and sales of around €1.5 billion last year, with 70% of sales split almost equally between South Africa and Asia. Asia is expected to become the biggest market for the drug by the end of 2013.
Phil Taylor
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