Stada acquires Forum Bioscience Group

The agreement will take effect subject to conditions. The acquisition will see the German company increasing its presence in the UK and strengthening its local business there. The Forum Bioscience Group consists of various companies divided into two divisions, the Britannia division and the Forum Products division, both of which have been acquired by Stada. The Britannia division is the main focus for Stada, with the Forum Products division, which concentrates on the area of veterinary medicine, not considered to be part of Stada's core business, and as a result, will continue to operate separately. "For Stada, with today's acquisition of the Forum Bioscience Group, the clear focus of interest is on the Forum Bioscience division Britannia. With Britannia, the sales structures of the group in the UK will be further strengthened by products which fit in well with the existing Stada business there,"​ a statement released by the company said. The Britannia division has focussed on being a leading supplier of innovative products for niche medical conditions and has developed new treatments for conditions including asthma, Parkinson's disease, drug addiction, erectile dysfunction, female surgical dysfunction and surgical adhesions, as well as nasal respiratory drug delivery technologies. The division tends to focus on branded products with off-patent active ingredients. The company's biggest product is APO-go (apomorphine) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, annual sales of which are about €21.1m. "The Britannia business model fits in well with the existing Stada business in the UK because the Stada sales company there, Genus Pharmaceuticals, has also been pursuing a sales concept targeted toward market niches for off-patent active ingredients in the area between generics and branded products,"​ the Stada statement said. The costs of separating the two divisions and integrating Britannia are currently estimated by Stada at a mid single-digit million amount. The Forum Bioscience Group has no production facilities of its own, instead using contract manufacturers for the production of its products. A Stada spokesman told in-PharmaTechnologist.com, there would be no change in the contract manufacturing agreements at the present time as a result of the acquisition. Stada would take on all Forum Bioscience products, the spokesman said. The German company also announced last week it had completed the acquisition of Russian pharmaceutical group MAKIZ. The takeover occurred through the purchase of respectively 100 per cent of the shares in the companies ZAO-MAKIZ Pharma, ZAO Skopinpharm and ZAO Biodyne Pharmaceuticals. The acquisition was worth approximately €125m.