LYPHOMED UNDER FUJISAWA: ETHICAL AND MULTISOURCE OPERATIONS DIVIDED

LYPHOMED UNDER FUJISAWA: ETHICAL AND MULTISOURCE OPERATIONS DIVIDED into two new divisions, the Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company and Lyphomed, respectively, the company said April 3. In its reconfigured state, the Lyphomed division handles multisource drugs while its proprietary drug product line has been combined with that of Fujisawa's U.S. ethicals as the Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company division. The reorganization, which began about three months ago, was officially completed with Lyphomed's merger with the Japanese company Fujisawa on April 5. Under the restructured operations, Lyphomed's ethical sales force of about 100 reps has been united with the Fujisawa U.S.'s sales force of about 125 persons to create a proprietary field detailing unit of 225 (including 25 sales managers). The sales staff is split between 125 trade force reps and 100 hospital reps. The company is forecasting an eventual trade force staff of around 500 with about 300 dedicated to hospitals. The trade force markets and sells Fujisawa's vaginal antifungal Vagistat (tioconazole), launched last year ("The Pink Sheet" Dec. 18, p. 18), the Fujisawa antibiotic Cefizox (ceftizoxime sodium), and two recently acquired products: Elase and Aristocort. Shipments of the two new products began April 1. A wound healing product, Elase was acquired from Warner-Lambert, and the company bought Aristocort, a topical corticosteroid, from Lederle. The combined hospital sales force currently details Lyphomed's Pentam/Nebupent pentamidine/aerosolized pentamidine products and Adenocard, the I.V. anti-arrhythmic adenosine from Medco Research that was launched last fall ("The Pink Sheet" Nov. 6, T&G-2). The reps are preparing for the launch of Ganite (gallium nitrate for cancer-related hypercalcemia, an orphan designation). The company is in final labeling discussions with FDA and expects approval imminently for Ganite; the NDA was filed in March 1989. * Takashi Aoki, currently senior managing director of Fujisawa, is the new chairman and CEO of Fujisawa USA as well as president of the Lyphomed multisource division. He will relocate to the U.S. from Osaka. Working with Aoki at the corporate level will be Lyphomed's current Chief Financial Officer Rich Wieland, its VP-Human Resources Jim Crawford and General Counsel Gary Schmidt. Jeff Organ and Floyd Benjamin from Lyphomed will have operational responsibility for the multisource division. The multisource sales force numbers some 50 reps, who will continue to detail a varied group of generic injectables, including antibiotics, blood modifiers (warfarins), hormones and steroids, oncology and cardiovascular products. Lyphomed also offers a complete line of multivitamins, trace elements and electrolytes to hospitals (the Micronutrients brand). The ethical division, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company, is headed by CEO Tetsuro Nuki and President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Tambi. Tambi came to Lyphomed in March 1986 from Bristol-Myers, where he was director of the firm's business planning and corporate development. Nuki was with the Fujisawa operations in Philadelphia. The executive changes went into effect April 5 with the resignations of Lyphomed founder and Chairman John Kapoor and Lyphomed President and CEO Gary Nei. With their resignations, which were previously announced as part of the merger plan, both Nei and Kapoor take seats on the Fujisawa USA board. In conjunction with the April 5 merger and restructuring, Fujisawa's Philadelphia administrative office will be closed and its roughly 70 employees offered relocation to Illinois. Fujisawa's Bethesda, Maryland research facility will remain open. Lyphomed's administrative staff of some 300-plus will be moved from its current Rosemont headquarters, combined with the Fujisawa staff who relocate and moved to a new administrative facility in Deerfield, Illinois in June. Lyphomed's Grand Island, N.Y., Melrose Park and Puerto Rico plants will stay open. Fujisawa and Lyphomed signed a definitive agreement to merge on Sept. 1 of last year ("The Pink Sheet" Sept. 4, T&G-5) in a deal that valued Lyphomed at approximately $953 mil. The final offer of $31.87 per share was a slight premium over the $31 a share the Japanese company originally offered ("The Pink Sheet" Aug. 28, p. 13) and made Fujisawa the first Japanese company to acquire an American pharmaceutical operation.