Forest Laboratories purchases Cerexa antibiotics

Forest Laboratories has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire private biopharmaceutical company Cerexa for $480 million (244.48 million pounds).

After the completion of the transaction, Forest will acquire the global development and marketing rights to two injectable antibiotic compounds, with an option on a third currently in early stages.

The first, ceftaroline acetate, a hospital-based cephalosporin antibiotic is due to enter phase III clinical trials. In phase II trials, the compound has shown bactericidal activity against strains of Gram-positive bacteria exhibiting the most resistance, including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Howard Solomon, chairman and chief executive officer of Forest, said: “Ceftaroline is an important late stage development product that can address serious and life-threatening infections in the hospital setting, including MRSA.”

He added that the company was confident that based on the evidence from existing clinical trials and the need for a next-generation hospital-based antibiotic, the compound could be successfully commercialised with robust financial prospects.

In October, Forest announced that fully diluted earnings per share of $0.75 for the second quarter of the 2007 financial year, an increase of 27 per cent on the comparable quarter last year.

Net revenues for second quarter rose 15 per cent on last year to $846.975 million.