Roche strengthens its position as leading supplier of chemical therapies
The Roche healthcare group of Basel has announced a multi-million franc agreement with SmithKline Beecham (SB) under which it will acquire global rights to Kytril, a drug used in chemotherapy.
In a statement on Thursday, Roche said Kytril provided relief to cancer patients suffering from the severe and debilitating nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.
SB will, at the same time, acquire from Roche exclusive rights in the United States and Canada for Coreg, a drug for congestive heart failure and hypertension.
Roche will pay SFr2.14 billion ($1.23 billion) for the rights to Kytril, while receiving SFr696 million from SB for the Coreg rights.
“The agreement marks another strategic move by Roche to focus on key therapeutic areas with high growth potential,” the statement said.
In a separate deal worth SFr2.79 billion, the Swiss healthcare group, Novartis, is to acquire leading herpes drugs from SmithKline Beecham (see “Novartis buys herpes drugs”).
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