Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) yesterday announced that it would sell the Asian rights to its over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to Japan’s Taisho Pharmaceutical for $160 million. Taisho will also buy Bristol’s Indonesian unit, which manufactures and sells OTC and ethical pharmaceutical products, for $150 million. The deal is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year. This is the latest in a series of deals signed by Bristol to focus on prescription drugs.
 
Through this deal, the Japanese firm seeks to bolster its presence in markets where demand for self-medicating products is still growing. Furthermore, this transaction will help Japan’s biggest maker of non-prescription drugs to make its first full-fledged entry into Asia’s OTC drug market.
 
The transaction  will enable Taisho to acquire certain product registrations, trademarks and related assets of selected pharmaceutical and OTC products sold primarily in Indonesia, Thailand the Philippines and other Asia Pacific countries.
 
Taisho, which boasted of annual revenues of approximately $2.8 billion in the last financial year, hopes to utilize the production facilities and sales network of Bristol’s Indonesian unit to expand into Asia, where it has focused on energy drinks so far.
 
This is Taisho’s latest move in a string of overseas acquisitions by Japanese drug makers seeking to beef up their development pipelines and expand beyond the domestic market. Recently, Japanese pharmaceutical company Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. confirmed its agreement to buy the U.S. pharmaceutical company Sepracor Inc. (SEPR) for $2.6 billion.
 
Through this acquisition, Dainippon is looking to increase its penetration in the U.S. market. The completion of this acquisition will give Dainippon access to Sepracor’s 1,200 strong sales force, which should help support the launch of its antipsychotic drug, lurasidone, currently in phase III development. Besides this, Sepracor will bring with it several marketed products such as Lunesta, Xopenex/HFA, Brovana, Omnaris and Alvesco.
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