India's Dr Reddy's in $350mln deal

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MUMBAI: India's second-largest drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd said it agreed to buy eight generic drugs from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Allergan Plc for $350 million in cash to bolster its U.S. business.

The deal is among Dr Reddy's biggest acquisitions, and comes at a time when the company has been facing slowing growth in the United States, its largest market, due to regulatory troubles and fewer new drug approvals.

Some formerly lucrative emerging markets have also taken a hit over the past year, and caused the company´s March quarter profit to slump 86 percent.

The drugs Dr Reddy´s is buying are being divested by Israel-based Teva, the world´s largest maker of generic drugs, to win U.S. antitrust clearance for its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan's generic drugs portfolio.  The sale to Dr Reddy´s puts Teva a step closer to closing the Allergan deal.

The deal consists of generic drugs awaiting U.S. approval, and some that are already on the market, including "complex generic products across diverse dosage forms", Dr Reddy´s said in a statement.