Dive Brief:
- Indian generic drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical has picked up two manufacturing facilities in Japan through a deal to acquire Pola Pharma, strengthening its dermatology presence in the island nation.
- Pola, which develops and sells a portfolio of branded and generic dermatology products, has two sites in Saitama that focus on topical and injectable formulations.
- Sun Pharma paid $1 million for 100% ownership of Pola on a debt- and cash-free basis. The transaction is expected to close Jan. 31, 2019.
Dive Insight:
Pola appears to have attracted Sun for two reasons. Not only does acquiring the small Japanese company give Sun a wider dermatology product portfolio, but the deal adds manufacturing capabilities that will give the larger generics company an improved production base in Japan.
"By combining Sun Pharma's global strengths with Pola Pharma's local expertise, we will have a great opportunity to further strengthen our presence in Japan, especially in the area of dermatology," said Junichi Nakamichi, Sun Pharma's country head of Japan, in a statement.
Sun Pharma already has a foothold in the Japanese market; it picked up 14 marketed prescription drugs across a number of therapeutic areas from Novartis for $293 million in March 2016.
While this deal is much smaller, Pola does bring in some cash. The smaller company had annual revenues of around $108 million last year, although it posted a loss of $7 million.
Expansion isn't the only news coming from Sun this week, though. On the other side of the Pacific, Sun disclosed in a notification filed with the state of New Jersey it will lay off 96 employees at its Cranbury, New Jersey plant.