Pfizer to Buy King Pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (New York, NY, USA) has agreed to buy King Pharmaceuticals (King; Bristol, TN, USA), a small drug maker that sells painkillers, in a US$3.6 billion cash deal aimed at diversifying global sales prior to the 2011 patent expiration of its top-selling product, cholesterol fighter Lipitor.

The purchase is intended to move Pfizer into a roughly $6 billion market in the United States alone for opioids. The market for potent pain medicines is dominated by mostly small or generic drug makers that lack the marketing muscle of Pfizer. The company plans to use salespeople already selling its arthritis drug Celebrex and fibromyalgia treatment Lyrica to promote King's products as well. The companies expect to close the deal by early 2011, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.

While widely used to relieve serious chronic pain, opiod use has been marred by reports of abuse, including unintentional deaths; King has been working on formulations that deter nonmedical use. Among other products, King sells the morphine drug Embeda, and is in the late stages of developing a treatment called Remoxy based on another ingredient, oxycodone. King also sells the Flector Patch to treat pain stemming from minor sprains and bruises, and the EpiPen for injecting epinephrine to quickly treat severe allergic reactions. In addition, it sells medicinal feed additives that Pfizer executives said would fit into the company's animal-health business.

"The combination of our respective portfolios in this area of unmet medical need is highly complementary and will allow us to offer a fuller spectrum of treatments for patients across the globe who are in need of pain relief and management," said Jeffrey Kindler, chairman and CEO of Pfizer. "In addition, the revenue generated by King's portfolio will further diversify Pfizer's business, while at the same time contributing to steady earnings growth and shareholder value."

"By bringing together King's capabilities in new formulations of pain treatments, designed to discourage common methods of misuse and abuse, with Pfizer's commercial, medical and regulatory expertise, global strength in patient services and reimbursement, and global scale and resources, we believe Pfizer can build on our foundation and take our business to the next level," said Brian Markison, chairman and CEO of King Pharmaceuticals.

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