Elan complete royalty rights deal

Irish pharmaceutical firm Elan has completed the acquisition of the royalty rights of three drugs from Pharma Operating.

Elan said this morning that it has completed the purchase of the rights in respect of Zonegran, Frova and Zanaflex for $99.6m (€83.75m).

As a result of the deal, Elan will make no further royalty payments to Pharma Marketing.

The company has raised around $2bn (€1.68bn) in asset disposals in the past year and completed a $30m (€25.22m) share and bond offering this month that it is using to pay off almost $500m

(€420.4m) in debt due in December.

Announcing third quarter results earlier this month ,Kelly Martin, Elan's president and chief executive was positive. He said that the company's recovery programme was "close to complete".

The firm reported a net loss of $91m (€996.4m) compared to a net loss of $996.4m (€838.23m) in the third quarter last year.