GSK sells off cephalosporin antibiotics business for $350 million

Sandoz, the generics and biosimilars business of Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX), has signed an agreement to acquire UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline’s (LSE: GSK) cephalosporin antibiotics business, reinforcing its leading global position in antibiotics.

The agreement includes the global rights to three established brands (Zinnat, Zinacef and Fortum) in more than 100 markets. It excludes the rights in the USA, Australia and Germany to certain of those brands, which were previously divested by GSK, and in India, Pakistan, Egypt, Japan (to certain of the brands) and China, which will be retained by GSK.

Financial terms of the transaction