Actavis in talks to combine with Warner Chilcott

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Actavis is looking into the possibility of buying Warner Chilcott, the generic drug maker said Friday.

Actavis, the world's third-largest generic drug maker, said it had entered into early-stage discussions with Warner Chilcott about a potential combination of the two, but that no agreement had been reached, and that it wouldn't issue further comment about the matter.

Last month, according to published reports, a proposal by Canadian drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International to acquire Actavis fell through. Valeant had been planning to pay more than $13 billion in stock to acquire the generic drug maker, but the two could not agree to terms of the deal.

Actavis reported sales of $5.91 billion in its fiscal year 2012 earnings, while Warner Chilcott had sales of $2.475 billion.