The Israeli pharmaceutical company Thero Pharmaceutical Industry Ltd. has announced that it is being sold to the Indian pharmaceutical company Sun Pharma, according to a market value of 1.6 billion dollars.
A few months ago, the Indian pharmaceutical company Sun Pharma (Sun Pharma) offered to purchase all the shares of Thero Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the Israeli pharmaceutical company, today it reports that an official agreement has been signed to merge into the Indian pharmaceutical company, which will purchase its shares.
Sun Pharma now owns about 78% of Thero Industries, and the transaction is carried out according to a market value of 1.6 billion dollars. Initially, the Indian pharmaceutical giant offered a price of $38 per Taro share, but raised the price to $43 last month.
The story of the Thero Pharmaceutical Industry Company is intertwined with the story of the establishment of the State of Israel. The Levitt and Moros families were Zionist families of pharmacists who immigrated to Israel near the establishment of the state and established in 1950 in Haifa the first and modest plant for the production of taro medicines. Who would have thought then that it would become an international pharmaceutical giant traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), under Indian control, and sell its products all over the world.
Taro is one of the largest employers in the Haifa and Kiryat area and stretches along a whole street near Chutzat Ha’Foretz. The R&D center in Israel, which is one of the largest in the country, was opened about 30 years ago and employs a very large number of people with advanced academic degrees such as doctorates in life sciences and pharmacists. The center includes the entire range of the company’s activities, from the development of active raw materials in advanced laboratories for organic chemistry, to laboratories for the development of complex formulations, sophisticated analytical laboratories and more.
Dr. Avi Abramoff, VP of Global R&D at Thero, says:
We are engaged in both generic development and unique drug development. This year we launched in Israel a new biological product for the treatment of psoriasis called Ilumia, and a product for the treatment of skin cancer called Odomuzo, as well as several other complex products for the treatment of psoriasis and acne. We develop prescription products as well as OTC products – without a prescription.”
