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Valeant to sell cancer business to Sanpower for $820m

pharmafile | January 10, 2017 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing Dendreon, Sanpower, Valeant 

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has announced it is to sell its cancer business Dendreon to Chinese firm Sanpower in a deal worth $819.9 million.

The sale of Dendreon, manufacturer of cancer vaccine Provenge, represents steps on Valeant’s part to rebuild consumer and investor rapport; the Canadian firm saw a rough end to last year after it was revealed its ex-CEO J. Michael Schiller could face investigations into allegations of fraud. Former executive Gary Tanner was later charged on the same grounds, and the company has sought to distance itself from past practices with a new operating strategy to move forward into 2017. Rife with debt, the company stated it would be looking to raise $8 million through sales of its non-core business, and it was also rumoured that the company was looking at selling core assets to straighten out its financial situation.

Valeant originally purchased Dendreon for approximately $300 million in 2015, but the cancer business filed for bankruptcy after sales of Provenge dropped below expectations. Valeant now plans to use funds generated by the sale to repay its term-loan debts.

Valeant chief executive Joseph Papa said of the decision, “With this sale, we are better aligning our product portfolio with Valeant’s new operating strategy by exiting the urological oncology business, which is one of our non-core assets.”

The sale is expected to close in the first half of this year.

Matt Fellows

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