Cephalon to acquire Zeneus

CEPH will acquire specialty pharma company Zeneus (Oxford, U.K.) for $360 million in cash. CEPH said the deal will accelerate its entry into the European oncology market and should generate $100 million in additional sales next year. Zeneus markets 15 products in Europe, including cancer drugs Targretin bexarotene and Myocet liposomal doxorubicin. Zeneus (formerly Medeus) gained rights to both products through last year's acquisition of the European sales and marketing business of Elan (ELN). ELN had European rights to Targretin from Ligand (LGND).

The deal also gives CEPH a 170-person European sales and marketing team. CEPH's marketed cancer products include Actiq oral transmucosal fentanyl for breakthrough cancer pain and Trisenox arsenic trioxide for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), which CEPH acquired from Cell Therapeutics (CTIC) in June. ...