The brands Stada is picking up include venous treatment Venoruton, Coldrex for colds, Cetebe vitamin C supplements, Mebucaine for sore threats and Tavegyl for allergies, among others.
Frankfurt, Germany-based generic drugmaker Stada is buying 15 consumer healthcare products from UK’s GlaxoSmithKline. According to two sources familiar with the deal, Stada is paying more than $325 million.
GSK has combined its over-the-counter (OTC) products division with Pfizer’s to focus on global brands. Stada, however, wants to expand its portfolio of smaller, national products.
The brands Stada is picking up include venous treatment Venoruton, Coldrex for colds, Cetebe vitamin C supplements, Mebucaine for sore threats and Tavegyl for allergies, among others. The products are sold in more than 40 countries, including Germany, Russia, Poland and Spain.
“Under our ownership, we believe there is an excellent opportunity to revitalize and grow these consumer health brands,” Peter Goldschmidt, Stada’s chief executive officer, told Reuters.
GSK is trying to raise $1.3 billion by divesting some of its consumer products from 2019 to 2020. “This divestment signals the good progress we are making towards our target,” a GSK spokesperson said.
Stada is majority owned by private equity firms Bain and Cinvent.
Earlier this month, GSK outline a plan to divide the company into two entities over the next two years. One will focus on pharmaceuticals and drug development. The other will focus on consumer healthcare.
At the company’s announcement at its year-end report, chief executive officer Emma Walmsley said, “All of this aims to support future growth, deliver significant value creation, and set up two new leading companies in biopharma and consumer healthcare, each with the opportunity to improve the health of hundreds of millions of people.”
In December 2018, Pfizer and GSK partnered to create a global healthcare company by combining the consumer healthcare business of each. The two companies indicated it created the world’s largest over-the-counter business. It holds the number one over-the-counter position in the U.S. and the second position in China, the two largest OTC markets in the world.
GSK divested two travel vaccines to Bavarian Nordic for up to 955 million euros in October. Now it is looking to divest more pharmaceutical assets by reviewing its prescription dermatology business, which brings in about 200 to 300 million British pounds in annual sales.
This new deal is similar to a June 2019 deal, where Stada acquired six Europe-focused consumer brands, including Eurax for itching and TIxlyx for coughs, from GSK. In November 2019, Stada acquired over-the-counter and prescription drugs from Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical for $660 million in a deal that boosted its Russian footprint.
GSK also announced it was selling its skin-care brand Physiogel to LG Household & Healthcare for 125 million pounds. The deal is for the Physiogel business in Asia and North America. Physiogel products originated in Germany and are offered in Asia, Europe and South America. LG Household & Healthcare plans to promote the brand as a leading global dermatological cosmetic brand leveraging its own research and production capabilities and global network.
A company spokesperson told The Korea Herald that the brand hadn’t made many inroads into major markets, including Japan, China and the U.S., and LG Household & Health Care was hoping to unlock that potential.
