Bristol-Myers Squibb to sell OTC assets in Asia Pacific

Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced plans to sell certain of its OTC assets in the Asia Pacific region to Taisho Pharmaceutical.

The sale, which does not include the company’s OTC assets in China and Japan, will see Taisho acquire product registrations and trademarks for pharmaceuticals sold primarily in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

According to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Tokyo-based firm has agreed to pay an aggregate purchase price of $310 million (£189 million) and the transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2009.

“This planned divestiture is a part of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s strategic transformation into a more focused next-generation BioPharma company that develops and commercialises products that address serious unmet medical needs,” commented Dieter Weinand, intercontinental president at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

“The company is looking closely at its geographic and manufacturing footprint to align more closely to the scale and size of a BioPharma company.”

Earlier this month, Bristol-Myers Squibb completed its $2.4 billion acquisition of Medarex, which is now wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.