Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories’ wholly owned U.S. subsidiary Promius Pharma has sold rights of Cloderm (clocortolone pivalate) cream and its authorised generic to EPI Health.
Under the agreement, Promius Pharma is eligible to receive an upfront payment followed by future royalties as the consideration for Cloderm cream and its authorised generic in the U.S., effective immediately, Dr. Reddy’s said on Tuesday.
The Hyderabad-headquartered drug maker had in April 2011 acquired the right to manufacture, distribute and market in the U.S. Cloderm cream from Valeant Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed sum. The cream is used to treat inflammation and itching caused by certain skin conditions.
The financials of the present sale were also not disclosed. EPI Health is privately held and based in Charleston, South Carolina. EPI Health president Ron Owens said Cloderm cream and the authorised generic are widely recognised and time-tested among the dermatology community.
Sells antibiotic facility
The sale followed Monday’s announcement by Dr. Reddy’s about closure of sale of its antibiotic manufacturing facility and related assets in Bristol, Tennessee to a U.S. subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-headquartered Neopharma. Dr. Reddy’s COO Erez Israeli said the sale of the facility was “in line with our stated priority to streamline and optimise our global cost structures and help us focus on other business priorities to drive growth.”
The plant and associated facilities focus on manufacturing or packaging amoxicillin-based products, which include a semi-synthetic penicillin. The 3,90,000 sq.ft. facility is dedicated to secondary oral-solid dose penicillin manufacturing/packaging, and includes processing, packaging, development, printing and warehouse spaces. A separate 24,000 sq.ft. plastics-processing facility in Bristol also forms part of the transaction. In another announcement on Monday, Dr. Reddy’s said it had terminated the licence granted to Armis Biopharma (formerly known as CHD Bioscience) for its investigational antibacterial product, DFA-02, for the prophylaxis of surgical site infections. As a result, Dr. Reddy’s has regained worldwide rights to DFA-02 and is evaluating its options to take the programme forward.
