P.M. BRIEFING : Japanese Firm to Buy Lyphomed

Lyphomed Inc. said today it has agreed to be bought by Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a Japanese firm that already owns 30% of the drug manufacturer, for about $670 million.

Lyphomed, based in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, enjoyed explosive growth in the mid-1980s, largely through its sales of pentamidine, a drug used to treat AIDS-related pneumonia. Overall sales soared from $4 million to $172 million from 1981 through 1987.

Lyphomed makes primarily injectable pharmaceutical products used by critically ill people.

The company ran into hard times last year after the federal Food and Drug Administration uncovered quality control problems at several Lyphomed plants. It lost $21.1 million in 1988. Lyphomed has since shuffled top management and posted a profit of $105,000 on revenues of $71.7 million in the first six months of 1989.