Phadia acquires Nanjing Wei Kang Le Trade Co of China

Uppsala, Sweden-based privately held Phadia says that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in the Chinese marketing company WKL from the parent company MeiRui. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2010, and is subject to regulatory approval.

The acquisition is made through Allergon AB, a wholly owned subsidiary of Phadia, and is subject to approval by Chinese authorities. MeiRui, which is 10% owned by Allergon, is itself the subject of a $70 million takeover offer from UK drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (The Pharma Letter December 8).

Nanjing-based WKL has successfully been marketing and distributing Phadia products including ImmunoCAP in China for 10 years. WKL has over 50 employees and more than 100 hospital customers in China's major cities. The Chinese operations are among the fastest growing areas within Phadia. The prevalence of allergy is increasing and 30% of all children are expected to develop some form of allergy in the future, the Swedish firm noted.