Novartis buys animal health business in Japan

Swiss drug major Novartis has agreed to acquire the animal health business of Sankyo Lifetech Co, expanding the group's presence in this sector in Japan.

Under the agreement, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, Sankyo Lifetech, a subsidiary of Sankyo Co, will transfer its animal health business to a new company that Novartis Animal Health KK has agreed to acquire. The transaction is expected to close at the end of March 2007. This includes the transfer of consenting staff and all marketing authorizations and intellectual property related to the commercialized brands and R&D portfolio of Sankyo Lifetech's animal health business, which generated $48.0 million in product sales in the fiscal year ending in March 2006.

Novartis and Sankyo started this collaboration in the early 1990s, which was particularly successful in the development and commercialization of milbemycin oxime. This broad-spectrum parasiticide is marketed by Sankyo under the trade names Milbemycin A (heartworm control) and Systec (combination product to control heartworm and fleas), which correspond to the Novartis brands Interceptor and Sentinel.