Forest Laboratories, J&J deal

Forest will acquire all U.S. and Canadian IP for hypertension drug Bystolic nebivolol from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. unit for $357 million. The deal eliminates royalties owed to Janssen. Additionally, Forest and J&J terminated a 2010 license agreement under which Forest granted J&J rights to Bystolic and fibromyalgia drug Savella milnacipran in Canada. Forest will now assume all responsibility for registration and commercialization of the products in Canada, where they are under review. In 2008, Forest paid $370 million to Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ:MYL, Canonsburg, Pa.) in exchange for receiving all commercial rights to Bystolic in the U.S. and Canada. Mylan had U.S. and Canadian rights from J&J (see BioCentury, March 3, 2008 & Dec. 6, 2010). ...