Inhale completes Bradford Particle buy

US firm Inhale Therapeutic Systems has completed itspreviously-announced acquisition of the UK-based Bradford Particle Design (Marketletter January 1 & 8), after the latter accepted an offer of $20 million in cash and 3.75 million newly-issued Inhale shares. BPD is widely regarded as the industry's leader in supercritical fluid technology.

Inhale says that the acquisition of BPD "has already attracted interest from many of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies" and is a major step in the US firm's mission "to become the leading company specializing in innovative drug delivery systems." Inhale's chairman, Robert Chess, said that BPD is an ideal fit in his group's strategy of developing or acquiring platform technologies with broad applications. BPD, which was established in 1994, employs 40 staff.