Ben Venue Laboratories, a member of the Boehringer Ingelheim Group, has signed an agreement to sell its Bedford Laboratories U.S. injectable generics business to Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC. Bedford Laboratories had provided generic sterile injectable medicines in the U.S., with a focus on acute-care hospitals, group purchasing organizations and oncology treatment centers. Ben Venue had ceased all operations of its generic sterile injectables business by the end of 2013 due to product quality manufacturing issues found in 2011.
 
Hikma will acquire many of the lab’s assets, including a large product portfolio, intellectual property rights, contracts for products marketed under license, raw material inventories, a R&D and business development pipeline, as well as some former employees across R&D, sales and marketing, business development and regulatory affairs.
 
Hikma has also entered an exclusive arrangement with Boehringer Ingelheim to potentially acquire all of the assets of the Ben Venue manufacturing facility, subject to customary approvals in the U.S. and the U.K.
 
“We believe that this is a positive development, allowing Hikma to leverage its existing infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities to re-introduce important products to the U.S. market, bringing significant benefit to patients,” said Paul R. Fonteyne, U.S. country managing director, president and chief executive officer of Boehringer Ingelheim USA Corp. and chairman of Ben Venue’s board of directors. “For more than 20 years, Bedford Laboratories and its product portfolio have been of great value to patients, customers and the marketplace. As part of Hikma, the Bedford team will remain focused on strengthening its relationships with customers and continuing to serve the needs of patients.”
 
“I am very excited to be acquiring an impressive portfolio of Bedford’s products and deep pipeline, which will significantly increase the scale and scope of our rapidly growing U.S. Injectables business. Our focus on bringing back critical products to the market that are currently in short supply will bring significant benefit to patients,” said Said Darwazah, chief executive officer of Hikma. “I am confident that we have the technical capabilities and manufacturing expertise to successfully re-launch Bedford’s products in the near term. Our experience in integrating previous acquisitions will help to ensure a smooth integration.”