Pliva finalises German oncology business acquisition

Croatia-headquartered Pliva has revealed that its German subsidiary AWD Pharma has signed an agreement to acquire ORCA Pharm, a privately owned pharmaceutical company with a presence in the oncology market in that region.

When the transaction is closed, AWD will pay a fixed purchase price of EUR 21m and up to an additional EUR 13m, based on the achievement of profitability milestones for 2007 and 2008.

Zeljko Covic, President and COO of Pliva, said: "Our acquisition of ORCA pharm provides us with a strategic platform for entering the highly lucrative oncology business in Germany and strongly supports our corporate strategy of focusing on markets with greater barriers-to-entry and thus greater value."

"The acquisition of ORCA pharm and its current product portfolio further supports our commitment to the EU oncology market and strengthens the foothold we have already established through our Czech subsidiary PLIVA Lachema, which focuses on the development, production and distribution of vertically integrated injectable cytostatic products," concluded Covic.