2014年12月19日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --今年11月初，比利时制药巨头优时比(UCB)宣布计划剥离其在美价值 15.25 亿美金的仿制药业务。根据该公司当时的公告，UCB计划将其位于美国新泽西州普林斯顿的Kremers Urban（KU）制药公司出售给私募股本集团Advent International（Advent）和Avista Capital Partners（Avista），所得15.25亿美元的收入将用于减轻公司的税负负担、加强产品线建设，同时使该公司专注于神经病学和免疫学核心业务。
然而，近日UCB突然宣布取消该计划，原因是该笔仿制药业务中的一款产品重新回到监管程序。根据联合声明，UCB、Advent、Avista已同意终止收购协议，该决定主要是由于收购（包括融资）的时机和Kremers Urban在11月14日宣布的监管程序之间意想不到的冲突所致。
今年11月14日，Kremers Urban宣布称FDA已通知该公司根据近期发布的指导草案开展一项额外的生物等效性研究，证实该公司的盐酸哌甲酯缓释片与类别参考药物Concerta的治疗等效性。Kremers Urban已打算按FDA要求开展额外的研究。UCB表示，对无法按计划完成出售业务感到失望，但认为终止交易是迈出的正确一步，将留出更多的时间考虑未来的出路。
UCB重磅癫痫药物Keppra于2011年专利到期，之后该公司一直在努力填补销售缺口。该公司最畅销的产品还包括抗炎药物Cimzia和癫痫药物Vimpat，UCB预计这2种产品各自的销售峰值将达到12亿欧元（约合16亿美元）。
在这一波制药巨头剥离非核心资产的大潮中，UCB并非唯一。此前，默沙东、葛兰素史克以、辉瑞都在寻求剥离或者已经剥离老药业务。今年4月，诺华、礼来和葛兰素史克的3方资产置换交易，进一步昭示了制药巨头欲重新调焦、弱化专利过期产品、重视品牌药。今年9月，阿斯利康也出售了18个老药。而辉瑞也剥离了动物保健业务Zoetis，同时将营养单元出售给了雀巢。
不过，并非所有业务拆分都一帆风顺。赛诺菲和葛兰素史克今年在试图出售老药业务时就出现了一些波折。今年10月，赛诺菲分拆80亿美元老药业务的计划因内部意见不统一而陷入僵局。今年12月初，葛兰素史克也放弃出售老药业务，该公司原计划剥离的老药业务总体价值约70亿英镑（约合110亿美元），然而潜在买家的报价仅为30亿美元，远低于预期。葛兰素史克表示，不再寻求剥离出售老药业务的决定，与实现股东价值最大化的核心准则相一致。
英文原文：Belgium's UCB calls it quits on $1.53B sale of U.S. generic drug unit
Weeks after Belgium's UCB announced that it would sell its U.S. generic drug business for $1.53 billion, the company is calling off the sale in light of regulatory pushback over one of the unit's products.
The Brussels-based company agreed to end the sale of Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals to private equity firms Advent International and Avista Capital Partners after the FDA asked for an additional study on Kremers' copy of Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) Concerta pill for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. UCB still intends to move forward with a sale, but needs to clear up the regulatory limbo first, the company said in a statement.
"We are of course disappointed that we could not complete the transaction as planned at this time but believe that the mutual termination is the right step to allow time for the needed evaluation of the best way forward and as a result to create the most value," UCB CFO Detlef Thielgen said in a statement.
UCB in November said that it planned to sell off Princeton, NJ-based Kremers to reduce its debt load and beef up its product pipeline. The sale would also allow the company to focus on its core businesses of neurology and immunology, CEO Roch Doliveux said at the time.
UCB's epilepsy drug Keppra went off patent in 2011, and since then the company has worked hard to fill the sales gap. Top-selling products include anti-inflammatory powerhouse Cimzia, a treatment for Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis; and Vimpat, an adjunctive therapy for partial onset seizures in adults with epilepsy. UCB expects peak sales of at least €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) for each drug.
Big Pharma companies have made investors happy by selling or spinning off business units. But UCB's initial sales announcement pushed the company's stock lower and left some investors scratching their heads. Kremers is more profitable than UCB as a whole, and the sale prompted UCB to delay its goal of achieving a 30% profit margin to 2018 from 2017, Bloomberg reports.
UCB is not the only drugmaker looking to shed some noncore assets; big names such as Merck ($MRK), GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) and Pfizer ($PFE) are sweeping out the old in favor of the new, slimming down their portfolios and making room for newer products. In April, Novartis ($NVS) pulled off one of the biggest sales swaps of the year, getting GSK's cancer portfolio in exchange for its vaccines unit, selling its animal health business to Eli Lilly ($LLY) and teaming up with Glaxo to launch a consumer health joint venture. In September, AstraZeneca ($AZN) sold off 18 older drugs to specialty generics maker IGI Laboratories for $500,000 up front, plus $6 million in milestones and up to $3 million in royalties. And Pfizer spun off its animal health business, Zoetis ($ZTS) and sold off its nutrition unit to Nestlé.
But it hasn't all been smooth sailing for drugmakers trying to hive off parts of their businesses. Sanofi ($SNY) and GSK faced stumbling blocks this year while trying to sell aging products. In October, Sanofi's tentative plan to spin off an $8 billion portfolio of old drugs stalled due to internal squabbles regarding the sale. Earlier this month, GSK said it would hold onto $3 billion worth of older products rather than sell them.