OPKO Health acquires Ireland’s EirGen Pharma

US pharma and diagnostics group OPKO Health (NYSE: OPK) says it has acquired EirGen Pharma, a growing, profitable and cash flow positive specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercial supply of high potency, high barrier to entry, pharmaceutical products for sale in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, most European countries, and more than 40 others around the world.

Financial terms of the transaction, which closed yesterday, were not officially disclosed but, according to the Irish times, OPKO is paying EirGen $100 million in cash and 35 million euros ($41.2 million) in shares of the business.

EirGen, based in Waterford, Ireland, was founded by two former executives of Ivax Pharmaceuticals, Tom Brennan and Patsy Carney. The company, situated in a state of the art high containment R&D, and manufacturing facility, is approved by the US Food and drug Administration, as well as regulatory authorities in the European Union and Japan. High potency drugs such as those used for cancer chemotherapy are typically unsuitable for manufacture in normal multi-product facilities due to cross contamination risks.