DuPont Buys Out Merck's Stake In JV For $2.6 Billion

DuPont has agreed to buy out the 50% stake held by Merck & Co in theDuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company for $2.6 billion, reflecting the company's strategy of putting life sciences at the center of its plans for future growth.

The former joint venture, which was set up in 1991 and had sales of $1.3 billion in 1997, will operate as DuPont Pharmaceuticals once the transaction is completed in July. Its present product pipeline includes the oral anticoagulant Coumadin (warfarin); Sinemet/CR (carbidopa-levodopa) for Parkinson's disease; ReVia (naltrexone) for alcohol dependency and; Cardiolite, a heart-imaging agent.

DuPont says that it also has a healthy line of compounds at all stages of development, most notably Sustiva (efavirenz) for HIV and AIDs, which is due to be filed shortly with the US Food and Drug Administration.