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WEST CHESTER - Continuing its strategy of growth through acquisition, Cephalon Inc. aggressively outbid at least two other suitors last year in reaching an agreement to buy a Minnesota drug company with a promising drug-delivery technology.
Cephalon ended up agreeing to pay $515 million to acquire Cima Labs of Eden Prairie, Minn. The deal, which is still awaiting regulatory review, had the highest price tag of any merger involving a local biotechnology company in 2003.
Last year also saw three other local life-sciences companies - 3Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Cell Pathways and Bionx Implants sold to larger organizations. Founded in 1986, Cima attracted interest from multiple bidders because of the proprietary drug-delivery technologies the company has developed that make it easier for patients to take prescription and over-the-counter medicines.
Its "fast-dissolve" technologies work by taking a product's active drug ingredient and formulating it into a "orally disintegrating" dosage form that dissolves quickly in the mouth - without the patient chewing the medicine or drinking water.
"Combining Cima's innovative delivery technologies together with our clinical development, regulatory and sales and marketing experience will create tremendous new opportunities for Cephalon," said Chairman and CEO Frank Baldino Jr. after the definitive merger agreement was signed.
Cephalon entered the bidding for Cima after the company had reached a tentative deal to merge with aaiPharma Inc. in a deal valued...