Valeant Pharmaceuticals International CEO Michael PearsonRyan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. say it plans to buy Pennsylvania-based specialty oral health company OraPharma for $312-million.
Under the deal announced Friday with private equity company Water Street Healthcare Partners, Valeant said it may also have to shell out up to an additional $114-million in contingency payments based on certain milestones, including revenue targets.
OraPharma's lead product is Arestin, a locally administered antibiotic for the treatment of periodontitis that uses a controlled-release delivery system in the treatment of adult periodontitis.
OraPharma currently has the largest specialized pharmaceutical sales force in the dental industry and as of March 31 its trailing 12-month net revenue was about $95-million and growing at a high single-digit rate, Valeant said.
The transaction is expected to close later this month.
"We are excited to enter a new attractive market segment with an already established sales infrastructure focused entirely on the dental community," said Valeant chairman and chief executive officer Michael Pearson.
"We believe that this market segment has similar characteristics to the dermatology, podiatry and ophthalmology markets and should offer us the opportunity to cross-sell some of our current products, most notably our new topical prescription cold sore medication, Xerese."
Valeant is a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products primarily in the areas of neurology, dermatology and branded generics.