Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[stealthways]

Summary of Avinar sale...last spring:

Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd plans to buy U.S.-based Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc for about $3.5 billion to expand its neurologic drug portfolio ahead of an expiration of a key drug patent.

The deal, Otsuka's biggest according to Thomson Reuters data, comes as the company aims to beef up its product pipeline ahead of a so-called "patent cliff" after April 2015, when its U.S. patent for schizophrenia drug Abilify expires and opens the way to generic competition.

Its global sales of Abilify (coming off patent soon) totaled 575.7 billion yen ($5 billion) in the last fiscal year, around 40 percent of the total for Otsuka Holdings. The United States is the biggest market for the drug.

Japanese companies, helped by cash-rich balance sheets and encouraged by an ageing domestic population, are looking overseas for growth.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical President Taro Iwamoto said the deal would "bring together Otsuka's experience and business track record in the area of mental illnesses with Avanir's strengths in neurologic diseases", according to a statement.....