Sandoz acquisition of Pfizer’s infliximab business

Overview:

• Sandoz, the generic pharmaceutical division of Novartis, has acquired the rights to develop and sell infliximab in all EEA countries from Pfizer. 
• Infliximab is a biosimilar - a drug designed to have similar properties to one that has already been licensed - used to treat inflammatory diseases such as arthritis.
• Pfizer's divestment of infliximab was a condition imposed on the company by the European Commission when it granted approval for the Israeli group's $15 billion takeover of Hospira, which previously held the rights to infliximab, last year. 
• A team from Latham & Watkins split between offices in the Germany, the US and Brussels, including Charles Ruck, Martin Neuhaus, Harald Selzner, Sven Völcker, Judith Hasko and Christoph Engeler, represented the acquirer.
• Lawyers from Clifford Chance's branches in Brussels, Dusseldorf and New York, including Christoph Holstein, Moritz Pöschke, Benjamin Sibbett, Daryl Fairbairn and Anastasios Tomtsis, advised Pfizer.