E Merck Buys R-P'sStake In Lipha

French drugs and chemicals group Rhone-Poulenc has sold its minority (43%) stake in the French company Lipha to E Merck of Germany, which already has the controlling interest.

R-P acquired the Lipha stake along with the French drugs distributor Cooper last year (Marketletters passim), but was reportedly not interested in keeping it. Terms of the deal are not yet disclosed, but it is thought that Merck will pay in the region of $280 million to gain total control of the company. Merck first acquired its stake in Lipha, which last year produced sales of about 3 billion French francs ($553.2 million), in 1991 from then-owner Air Liquide.

One of Lipha's most important products is Glucophage (metformin HCl), which last week was approved for marketing in the USA for the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (Marketletter January 9). It will be marketed in the USA under a licensing agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, and is seen as one of the few new agents to challenge the leading positions of Upjohn's glyburide products Micronase and Glynase.