Battle for Afexa escalates as suitors Valeant and Paladin up offers; Dr Reddy's and JBCPL scrap Russian deal

The fight for the acquisition of Canada’s Afexa Life Sciences (TSX: FXA) has gone into overdrive, with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE/TSX: VRX) announcing yesterday that it intends to raise its takeover offer for the Edmonton, Alberta-based company to C$0.85 per common share, an increase of 20% from C$0.71 originally offered under an agreement announced last month, which valued the company at around C$76 million ($78 million: The Pharma Letter August 31).

The increased offer is subject to Afexa's agreement to certain amendments to the support agreement, including a reduction in the minimum tender condition, which Valeant hopes to resolve in the coming days and aims to stop the company falling into the hands of fellow Canada-based Paladin Labs (TSX: PLB), which is also in the process of buying Labopharm (TSX: DDS; TPL August 22).