Depomed Closes Acquisition Of U.S. Rights To Nucynta Franchise From Janssen

(RTTNews) - Depomed, Inc. (DEPO) said Thursday that it has closed the acquisition of the U.S. rights to the Nucynta franchise from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), for $1.05 billion.

The deal was originally announced in mid-January.

The Nucynta franchise includes: Nucynta ER extended release tablets indicated for the management of pain, including neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment; Nucynta, an immediate release version of tapentadol, for management of moderate to severe acute pain in adults; and Nucynta oral solution, an approved oral form of tapentadol that has not been launched. Nucynta is now the flagship asset in Depomed's growing portfolio of pain and neurology specialty pharmaceuticals.

Depomed said it will begin shipping Nucynta the week of April 6, reflecting a price adjustment made after closing the deal. Quintiles, the contract sales organization that promoted the Nucynta franchise for Janssen, will continue to support the products for Depomed from now until re-launch in June.

Depomed expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to adjusted EPS in 2015 and to provide significant growth in net sales, EBITDA, adjusted earnings and cash flow in future years. Return on invested capital is estimated to exceed cost of capital by 2016.