Roche to sell four drug lines to Swedish firm

Roche is to divest four of its drug treatments to a Swedish-based specialty pharma com-pany as it continues its focus on portfolio rationalisation.

Meda has signed an agreement with Roche to buy the worldwide product rights to its anticoagulant drug Marcoumar, loop diu-retic Torem, and drugs Tilcotil, a treatment for painful musculoskeletal disorders and Aurorix used for depression. The transac-tion is expected to generate Euro 120m (Swiss francs 195m) and will close in late 2008, subject to standard closing conditions.

The total amount of global sales generated by these products represents 0.3% of the pharmaceuticals division's sales for Roche. With this divestment Roche further under-lines its strategy of focusing on core prod-ucts from its innovation-driven pharmaceu-tical and diagnostic pipelines, which offer significant potential for high value creation, both for the patients and the company.