Valeant pulls out of deal with ISTA, which announces Beposone progress

Acquisitive Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (TSX: VRX) says that it has withdrawn its increased offer to acquire US ophthalmic and allergy specialist ISTA Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ISTA) for $7.50 per share in cash.

Valeant had previously announced that the offer, which it recently upped from the original $6.50 a share (an enterprise value of $327 million) and possibly up to $8.50 (The Pharma Letters December 19, 2011 and January 17), would only remain open until January 31, 2012, but withdrew the bid yesterday due to lack of progress.

"As we stated last December, we were not interested in participating in a lengthy evaluation process and we are disappointed that the ISTA team was not willing to fully explore our proposal by January 31," stated Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive, adding: "We continue to be disciplined on our M&A strategy and we are actively working on other opportunities that we believe can create value for our shareholders. We wish the ISTA team well in their future endeavors."