PPD Buys Skin Drug Maker, Sells Research Facility

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc., a contract drug research company, said Friday it bought skin drug developer Magen Biosciences Inc., and will sell its Piedmont Research Center business to Charles River Laboratories International Inc.

Charles River Labs will pay $46 million for Piedmont Research, a North Carolina-based facility that does preclinical drug discovery studies on products including cancer drugs. PPD said it will pay $14.5 million in cash for Magen, a Waltham, Mass., company that is developing biotech dermatology drugs discovered by Eli Lilly & Co.

Charles River Labs said it expects to close the Piedmont purchase in the second quarter, pending regulatory approval. The Magen buyout is complete.

Combined, the deals will boost PPD's annual profit by about 3 cents per share: the company expects the Piedmont sale to add 12 cents per share to its earnings, and forecast a loss of 9 cents per share from Magen over the rest of the year. It said it will lose $19 million in discovery segment revenue as a result of selling the Piedmont facility.

In January, Wilmington, N.C.-based PPD said it expected to earn $1.97 to $2.05 per share this year, on $1.6 billion to $1.67 billion in revenue. Analysts expect $1.84 per share and $1.59 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.