Hikma boosts injectables business with Xellia assets acquisition

Hikma Pharmaceuticals said on Monday that it has agreed to buy parts of Xellia Pharmaceuticals, a Copenhagen-based specialty company focusing on providing anti-infective treatments and other critical care therapies, for up to $185m.

Hikma will buy parts of Xellia’s US finished dosage form (FDF) business and assets, including a commercial portfolio and pipeline of differentiated products, a manufacturing facility in Cleveland, Ohio, sales and marketing capabilities, and an R&D centre in Zagreb, Croatia.

The acquisition will add eight approved and marketed injectable products to Hikma's US portfolio and 11 pipeline products.

The Xellia commercial portfolio comprises the ready-to-use formulation, Vanco Ready® (vancomycin), launched in 2019, and other anti-infectives. These products are currently manufactured by a third-party and Hikma will maintain these manufacturing contracts while it upgrades the Cleveland facility, with the goal of moving production of these products in-house.

Chief executive Riad Mishlawi said: "Hikma has grown to become a top-three US supplier of sterile injectable medicines thanks to our strong record of successfully making value-enhancing acquisitions like this one.

"This acquisition will add significant scale to our US operations and will enhance our US injectable manufacturing capabilities and portfolio by adding complex technologies. I am confident that this transaction will deliver significant future value to our Injectables business, supporting growth over the medium term."

Hikma said its guidance for 2024 remains unchanged.