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Gold/Mining/Energy : Nuvo Research Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe Krupa who wrote (7894)	10/25/2001 12:08:09 PM
From: john.d	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14101

Thanks Joe, I think most of us figured out what you were trying to say. What do you think of the news that Provalis is going to sell a competitive OA oral medication? I always thought that one of BEcky's critieria for a distributor was that they do NOT sell a competitive OA product. The thinking was that they would push Pennsaid, but now with an alternative, Pennsaid may not be front and centre as an OA treatment, particularly if the other product generates more attractive margins for Provalis. John uk.biz.yahoo.com Provalis buys Pfizer drug for 15 mln stg (Adds analyst comment, paragraph 8, share rise, paragraph 7) By Ben Hirschler LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Healthcare group Provalis Plc (LSE: PRO.L - news) said on Thursday it had agreed ADVERTISEMENT to buy British rights to Pfizer Inc's off-patent Diclomax arthritis drug for 14.5 million pounds ($20.6 million), plus up to 800,000 for stocks. The acquisition, the largest in the company's history, will transform the Provalis business by providing cashflow to fund research and bringing forward profitability, chief executive Phil Gould said. Provalis will make an initial cash payment of 1.9 million pounds, with the balance paid off in weekly instalments over three years. "This will double the turnover of our healthcare division and will provide a substantial revenue stream to fund our R&D, which is the long-term gameplan," Gould told Reuters. Diclomax -- which generated British sales of 6.7 million pounds last year -- is an oral once-a-day version of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, which is used to treat arthritis and other muscular-skeletal disorders. "For Pfizer, this is an older product and a distraction -- so they have sold it on to us," Gould said. Shares in Provalis, which have moved sideways for much of the year, rose 6.3 percent to 12-3/4 pence by 1300 GMT, valuing the group at around 31 million pounds. Sam Fazeli, analyst at Altium Capital, said the deal would be accretive to Provalis -- assuming sales are maintained -- with weekly payments of 80,000 pounds to Pfizer offset by profits of 107,000, at a gross margin of 80 percent. Provalis, formerly known as Cortecs which nearly collapsed in 1999, reported a net loss of 4.4 million pounds in the year to June 30 on sales of 7.8 million pounds. It had been expected to break even in 2003, but the Diclomax deal could bring this forward to 2002. The company's main healthcare division, which has a sales force of 42, already sells Pennsaid, a painkilling cream for osteo-arthiritis.