Teva to acquire CoGenesys for $400 million

JERUSALEM Teva has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the biotech company CoGenesys, in a deal worth $400 million cash. The deal focuses on the development of peptide and protein based medicines across broad therapeutic categories.

In its recently completed strategic review, Teva identified biopharmaceuticals and primarily biogenerics as a key, long-term growth opportunity for the company. With this acquisition, Teva is taking a step towards becoming a leading player in the biogenerics market, as that market evolves.

“We are very excited about this strategic acquisition. Biopharmaceuticals will be a long-term growth driver for Teva, and this transaction represents an important springboard in our efforts to establish ourselves among the leaders in this market. CoGenesys’ breadth of technologies and the depth of their team and pipeline complement Teva’s large-scale operations, extensive resources and its proven expertise in bringing drugs to market,” said Shlomo Yanai, Teva’s president and chief executive officer, commenting on the transaction. “This combination will enable us to realize our vision of delivering high quality, affordable biopharmaceuticals worldwide. CoGenesys’ acquisition reflects our commitment to capture the significant long-term prospects we believe the biogenerics market will offer.”

The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2008.