Fresenius’ Offer to Buy APP Could Amount to $5.6 Billion

Fresenius has offered to buy APP Pharmaceuticals in a deal that would give APP’s products a global market and let Fresenius Kabi, a subsidiary, enter the U.S. injectable generics market, according to APP.

Fresenius agreed to buy the company for as much as $3.7 billion upfront. It also is willing to pay an additional $970 million in 2011 if APP meets certain financial targets and assume APP’s outstanding debt, which totals roughly $940 million.

APP will become part of the Fresenius Kabi division, it said, noting its controlling stockholders have approved the merger.

Earlier this year, APP Pharmaceuticals introduced enhanced labeling for its heparin sodium injection, USP, to make sure it cannot be confused with a lower-strength product.

In May, actor Dennis Quaid testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that his twin infants were mistakenly given 10,000 units of heparin instead of 10 units of Baxter’s Hep-Lock product on two occasions last November due to the similar color and appearance of the labels, a medication error that nearly killed them.

Similar errors killed three other infants and severely injured three more in Indianapolis in September 2006.