Valeant to buy Medicis Pharmaceutical for $2.6 billion

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Canada’s largest publicly traded drug maker, agreed to buy Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. for $2.6 billion to expand in wrinkle treatments and other skin care products.

Valeant said it will pay $44 in cash for each share of Medicis, 39% more than the Scottsdale, Ariz., firm’s Friday closing price. The transaction will close in the first half of 2013, Montreal-based Valeant said in a statement.

The deal would be the largest for Valeant since it was created in a 2010 merger of Canada’s Biovail Corp. and a predecessor based in Aliso Viejo. Valeant has made about 50 acquisitions of companies and assets since Michael Pearson took over as chief executive in 2008, company spokesman Jared Levy said. Medicis, with products such as Solodyn and Restylane, will help Valeant grow its dermatology business.

“The acquisition of Medicis represents a significant next step in our journey to become the leader in dermatology by strengthening Valeant’s presence in acne, actinic keratosis, aesthetic injectables and anti-virals, among others,” Pearson said in the statement.

An attempt to expand last year with a $5.7-billion offer for drug maker Cephalon Inc. failed after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in Petach Tikva, Israel, topped the offer with a more-than-$6-billion overture.

Valeant’s most recent successful purchase of a company was in June, when it bought OraPharma Inc., a maker of specialty oral health products, for $312 million from private equity company Water Street Healthcare Partners.