S&P comments on Cephalon Inc
Tuesday November 4, 11:32 am ET
(The following statement was released by the ratings agency)
NEW YORK, Nov 4 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that the ratings and outlook on Cephalon Inc. (NasdaqNM:CEPH - News; B+/Positive/--) are not affected by its announcement that it intends to acquire CIMA Labs Inc. (NasdaqNM:CIMA - News) for approximately $515 million in cash, or $397 million net of CIMA's cash and cash equivalents. On Sept. 30, 2003, Cephalon had cash, cash equivalents, and investments of roughly $1.1 billion, an amount sufficient to fund the transaction and still have adequate liquidity for the rating category. In addition, CIMA is cash-flow positive, has several drug delivery technologies, and has the promising OraVescent Fentanyl cancer pain product, which recently completed phase II clinical trials. This product will complement Cephalon's marketed breakthrough cancer pain medication Actiq, which had sales of more than $160 million for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2003. |
