Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to sell its global biologics manufacturing business for $80 million cash to Ferring B.V. and Ferring International Centre SA, subsidiaries of Ferring Holding SA, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Savient will receive the $80 million in three installments: $55 million at closing, $15 million at the first anniversary of closing and $10 million at the second anniversary of closing. Savient estimates the proceeds from this transaction over the next two years to be approximately $70 million after transaction-related expenses, taxes and the extinguishment of bank debt, assuming the transaction closes in the next six months. Savient expects that the transaction will close by the end of the first half of 2005.

As part of this new strategic direction, Savient announced its intention to explore the sale of its global biologics manufacturing business and to use the proceeds from the divestiture to fund the advancement of its lead drug candidate Puricase for the treatment of severe, refractory gout which is nearing completion of Phase 2 clinical trials in the United States, and pursue business development opportunities to in-license novel compounds in clinical stage development as well as marketed products complimentary to this strategy, a company release said here.

Savient's global biologics manufacturing business features a diverse portfolio of seven products that include Bio-Tropin human growth hormone (marketed as TevTropin in the US), Nuflexxa hyaluronic acid for amelioration of knee pain due to osteoarthritis (to be marketed outside the US under the tradename Euflexxa), BioLon hyaluronic acid for use in surgery, Bio-Hep-B recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, insulin, Fibrimage radiopharmaceutical product for diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and a development stage generic biologic product.

Earlier, Savient and Ferring had entered a co-promotion agreement for Nuflexxa in the United States, contingent upon the completion of the sale of the global biologics manufacturing business.