SkyePharma to dump injectable business interests, hires new chairman

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Feb. 2 - SkyePharma plc said that after concluding its strategic review, it has decided to divest its injectable business interests.

The company had been soliciting takeover offers but did not receive an offer the board felt "able to recommend to shareholders," according to a company news release.

The board then concluded that divestment of the injectable business interests will help return the company to sustainable profitability in the shortest possible time.

SkyePharma said a number of potential purchasers were identified during the strategic review and that any such divestment will be subject to approval by shareholders.

The injectable business, located primarily in San Diego, consists of two marketed products, DepoCyt for a complication of cancer and Depodur for the treatment of post-surgical pain, and a pipeline of projects in various stages of development.

The company will use funds raised by the divestment to enhance its core oral and pulmonary business, including accelerating the development of certain pipeline products.

The residual core business will consist of the oral and pulmonary products business, with development based in Muttenz, Switzerland, and manufacture in Muttenz and in Lyon, France.

The core portfolio includes seven marketed oral and pulmonary products, such as Paxil CR, Xatral OD and Triglide, and a number of late-stage products, according to the release.

SkyePharma also announced that it has appointed Argeris "Jerry" Karabelas as non-executive chairman.

Karabelas has been a non-executive director of SkyePharma since 2000 and his familiarity with the company's business will enable him to make an immediate contribution as chairman, SkyePharma said in the release.

Karabelas has held multiple senior-level positions in the pharmaceuticals industry, including chief executive of Novartis Pharma and president of the North American operations of SmithKline Beecham.

He is currently an executive director of Care Capital, a specialist U.S. health care investment fund, and is non-executive chairman of several pharmaceutical and health care companies including Human Genome Sciences.

Former chairman and director Ian Gowrie-Smith resigned on Jan. 23. It had been Gowrie-Smith's intention since early 2005 to resign at an appropriate time, the company said.

On Jan. 30, institutional investors North Atlantic Value LLP, Insight Investment and Morley Fund Management called for a general meeting to appoint Robert Thian, chairman of Southern Water plc, as director and to remove any person other than Thian that may have been appointed by the company between then and the meeting.

In a news release, SkyePharma said it will "strenuously oppose any attempts to force a candidate on to the board."

London-based SkyePharma uses drug-delivery technology to facilitate drug formulation.

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