Eden Biodesign passes into Watson Pharma's hands

UK biologics manufacturing specialist Eden Biodesign has been bought by US drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals in a $15 million deal.

The closure of the deal marks the continuation of Watson's foray into the biologics arena, an intention that was further signalled by the appointment last year of Frederick Wilkinson to the post of executive vice president, global brands, with a particular focus on biologics.

Eden Biodesign will operate as part of Wilkinson's division and will provide a manufacturing and development component to Watson's biologics business, accelerating its entry into the market for biosimilar drugs whilst continuing to provide contract services to early-stage biotechnology firms.

The combination of Eden's cell bank development expertise, formulation and production capabilities can be combined with Watson's clinical, regulatory, sales and marketing and distribution muscle to develop both biosimilars and 'biobetter' drugs in the future, according to Wilkinson.

Watson's takeover of Eden comes shortly after the firm's $1.05 billion acquisition of international generic drugmaker Arrow Group, which expanded its activities outside the US as it tries to keep up with generic drug giants such as Teva, Sandoz and Mylan.

Arrow brought the company additional manufacturing capacity, with additional facilities in the USA, Canada, India, Malta and Brazil, as well as a 36% stake in Eden Biodesign which marked the first foray for the generic drugmaker into the biologics sector.

At the time of the Arrow acquisition Watson was already signalling its intention to buy the outstanding share of the company.

"Completing the acquisition of Eden is the next strategic step in our commitment to establishing a major position in biologic products on a global basis," said Paul Bisaro, Watson's president and chief executive.

Eden operates a biomanufacturing facility in Liverpool, UK, which was designed from the ground up to handle a broad range of bioproduction approaches and have the flexibility to make multiple products at any time.