Forest Labs to Acquire Furiex Pharma a deal potentially worth $1.46 billion

This afternoon, Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) said that it would buy Furiex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: FURX) for up to $1.46 billion in cash, and rights. This deal also includes milestone payments to access Furiex's promising treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. “The acquisition of Furiex builds on our growing position in gastroenterology and helps to create a leading GI company within Forest. It is a natural extension of our GI business following our $2.9 billion acquisition of Aptalis earlier this year,” said Brent Saunders, Chief Executive Officer and President of Forest Laboratories, Inc. Furiex is a drug development collaboration company, and Forest has agreed to acquire the company for $95 per share, or approximately $1.1 billion in cash, and up to $30 per share in a Contingent Value Right (CVR) that may be payable based on the status of eluxadoline, one of Furiex's most valuable drugs. The executive continued, “We believe eluxadoline will be very complementary to our anchor GI product Linzess and additive to our broader GI portfolio, making us more relevant to gastroenterologists and primary care physicians. With eluxadoline, we expect to have one of the broadest product offerings for the $38 billion GI disease market.”In addition, Forest announced that it is entering into an agreement with Royalty Pharma to sell Furiex's royalties on Alogliptin and Priligy to Royalty Pharma for $415 million.