>>VANCOUVER, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Canadian drugmaker Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Toronto:ANP.TO - News) said on Monday it would buy Cohesion Technologies (NasdaqNM:CSON - News), a U.S. biotech firm, in a $42 million all-stock deal, adding to Angiotech's ability to provide drug coatings for medical devices.
Angiotech said it would pay $4.05 per share for outstanding shares of Cohesion and expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2003.
Cohesion shares closed at $2.25 on Friday on Nasdaq.
The deal is subject to a "collar" on Angiotech's closing stock price. The companies did not specify the minimum price of Angiotech shares necessary for the deal to remain in effect.
Angiotech's shares have fallen nearly 30 percent this year, suffering because of mounting losses and investors avoiding biotech shares. They closed at C$62.47 on Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Angiotech makes drug coatings for surgical stents, or small tubes intended to prop open heart arteries. The company has a co-licensing deal with Boston Scientific to provide paclitaxel, the main ingredient in widely used cancer drug Taxol, to coat Boston Scientific Corp.'s (NYSE:BSX - News) stents.
Palo Alto, California-based Cohesion's products include CoSeal, CoStasis and Adhibit, which are sealants and gels used during or after surgery.
""We expect to see an immediate impact in product development from the competitive strengths of both companies, while as with the stent market, treatment markets could double and triple in a short span of time with the approval of drug-enhanced products," said Jeanne Bertonis, vice president of corporate development at Angiotech.
($1=$1.58 Canadian)<<
Cheers, Tuck |
