Mallinckrodt's InfaCare Buy Leaves Room For Further Diversifying M&A

By buying privately held InfaCare Pharmaceutical Corp., the UK specialty pharma Mallinckrodt PLC will diversify further into therapies for neonatal and pediatric patients while retaining sufficient fire power for more targeted acquisitions later, analysts say.

Mallinckrodt is paying up to $425m to acquire InfaCare and its late-stage medicine stannsoporfin which is being developed to treat severe jaundice in infants. The deal's terms call for Mallinckrodt to pay $80m upfront and up to $345m in milestone payments provided stannsoporfin, a heme oxygenase inhibitor, gets regulatory approved