Endo buying partner in pain Penwest for $168M

Looking to burnish its reputation in the field of pain therapy, Chadds Ford, PA-based Endo Pharmaceuticals (ENDP) struck a deal to buy out its development partner Penwest Pharmaceuticals for about $168 million on the same day it filed an NDA for a new, abuse-resistant drug. The buyout deal--struck at a price of $5 per share, a 19 percent premium--gives the developer Penwest's interests in Opana ER, a therapy that the two biotech companies have been working on for the past 13 years, along with a...

Penwest plans new staff cuts

Penwest Pharmaceuticals reported record second quarter revenue but said it plans new staff cuts in order to build profitability. The company is sharpening its axe to attack "non-drug delivery partnership-funded cash expenses...We expect to achieve these expense reductions by the fourth quarter of this year through a further reduction in staff levels as well as an overall reduction in other costs." Penwest...