Valeant completes acquisition of Aton Pharma

Aliso Viejo, CA

-Valeant Pharmaceuticals International announced the completion of its acquisition of Aton Pharma Inc., headquartered in Lawrenceville, NJ.

Valeant previously announced last month through a press release that it had signed an agreement to acquire the specialty pharmaceutical company focused on ophthalmology and certain orphan drug indications.

Valeant will pay certain milestones based predominately on the achievement of development and commercial targets for certain pipeline products still in development, according to the release. Future development of a portion of the pipeline portfolio will be co-funded by the sellers (affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management) under a profit-sharing agreement with Valeant. In addition, Valeant will retain global rights to the majority of the Aton products, according to the release.

Under the terms of the agreement, Valeant will pay about $318 million, according to the press release. Aton is expected to have $80 million to $100 million in annual revenue in 2010, it was noted in the press release.

"The acquisition of Aton fits into our long-term strategy to pursue diversified opportunities within the pharmaceutical market and offers us another platform for future growth," said J. Michael Pearson, Valeant chairman and chief executive officer, in the prepared statement.