Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis has bought the German firm Hexal and its US counterpart Eon Labs in a $5.65 billion takeover deal aimed at making it the world's top maker of generic drugs.
The Swiss group said it had signed 'definitive agreements' to take over 100% of Hexal and buy a 67.7% stake in Eon Labs, a US generics company that has a strategic partnership with the German firm.
The Swiss group said it would become 'the global leader' in generics - cheaper non-branded medicines where the patent rights have lapsed - following the takeover with combined sales of $5 billion, based on 2004 data.
'Generic drugs are crucial to meeting the health care needs of patients in industrialised and developing countries as cost pressures continue to mount due to the ever-increasing demand of an ageing population,' Novartis chief executive Daniel Vasella said.
Novartis said it would launch a tender to buy the remaining stake in Eon for just under $1 billion.
