Drugmaker Ipsen to buy some products from Sanofi for 83 million euros

[February 13, 2017]  PARIS (Reuters) - Drugmaker Ipsen has agreed to buy five consumer healthcare products from bigger French rival Sanofi for 83 million euros ($88 million), in a deal which Ipsen said should boost its profits.

The sale arose as part of a requirement from the European Commission to sell off certain assets from an earlier deal between Sanofi and German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim.

Ipsen said the most significant product it was buying was Prontalgine, an analgesic for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, which has grown at double-digit rates over the last four years and is available only in France.

The other products it is acquiring are antispasmodic treatment Buscopan, laxative treatment Suppositoria Glycerini, and cough and flu products Mucothiol and Mucodyne.

"The opportunity immediately improves the profitability profile of Ipsen's Primary Care business. It adds a limited portfolio of well-established and market leading brands in a key market such as France," Ipsen Chief Executive David Meek said in a statement on Monday.

The acquisition would be fully financed from existing cash reserves and lines of credit, the company added.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)

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