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Valeant buys eye drug for $112.5 million
MONTREAL — Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has acquired rights to a drug used to treat a symptom of age-related macular degeneration, the drug maker said.
Valeant announced that it acquired the injected drug Visudyne (verteporfin) from QLT, a company based in Vancouver, Canada.
Valeant said it paid $62.5 million upfront for all U.S. rights and available inventories for the drug, which had U.S. sales of about $21 million in 2011, and another $50 million upfront for rights to non-U.S. sales, which were about $14 million.
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Sandoz launches authorized generic of Diovan HCT
NEW YORK — Generic drug maker Sandoz has launched an authorized generic version of a drug used to treat hypertension.
The generics division of Swiss drug maker Novartis announced the introduction of valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide tablets, a generic version of Novartis' Diovan HCT. Novartis will continue marketing the branded version of the drug, which had sales of $2.3 billion in 2011 together with Diovan (valsartan).