Forest Labs
Executive Summary
Announces an in-principle agreement with Rhone-Poulenc Rorer to acquire "a line of thyroid products." Terms of the proposed deal were not disclosed. RPR currently markets Rorer's Levothroid (levothroxine) as replacement or substitution therapy for diminished or absent thyroid. The hormone product is available in tablet and parenteral formulations. RPR Exec VP and Group President U.S. Randy Thurman told the Mabon Nugent research conference Dec. 5 that the Forest deal "is the first of our non-strategic asset divestitures" that are intended to help cut RPR's debt by $800 mil. by 1994 from its current $2.7 bil. level.