UCB products give Actient a platform for growth in urology
This article was originally published in Scrip
Actient Pharmaceuticals, a new speciality company formed last year in the US with funding from private equity firm GTCR, has established a platform for commercial growth by licensing and acquiring six marketed pharmaceutical products from the US subsidiary of Belgian firm UCB.
This is the first transaction for Actient, which plans to expand its senior leadership team and hire a number of employees to support its portfolio. No financial details were disclosed. The six unspecified products give Actient "an opportunity set up a commercial platform and a strategic asset in the urology space that can be leveraged through additional acquisitions", the company said.
Based in Deerfield, Illinois, Actient is a management partnership formed in March 2009 between GTCR and Ed Fiorentino, a former corporate vice president of pharmaceutical commercial operations at Abbott Laboratories, who is now Actient's CEO.
GTCR said at the time that it planned to invest up to $200 million to back up Actient's strategy of acquiring and operating specialty pharmaceutical companies and products, with an emphasis on addressing unmet medical needs. Actient is targeting products that are already approved or currently marketed, as well as late-stage development drugs.
The transaction with UCB was supported by investment from GTCR Fund IX, a private equity fund with $2.75 billion of committed capital, as well as an initial debt financing commitment from GE Capital and LBC Credit Partners.