Anchen Pharmaceuticals, an Irvine niche generic drug developer, has been sold to Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc. in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. for $410 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

Anchen uses what is called an Abbreviated New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Office of Generic Drugs. The process speeds up development of lower-cost, generic drugs that avoid patents covering branded products.Anchen has five products on the market, 27 applications on file with the FDA, five of which the company says are first to file, and 26 additional products in development. The company plans to launch 8 to 10 more generic products within two years.

Anchen has 218 employees and a 72,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse facility. Par will finance the deal with cash on hand and a $350 million loan.

Par was founded in 1978 as a generic drug company. It now has both generic and proprietary pharmaceutical divisions.

Par CEO Patrick G. LePore said, "Anchen has an excellent development track record and robust product pipeline, which, when combined with Par's existing capabilities and pipeline, more than doubles our product opportunities."

In May, Par bought another private generic products maker, Edict Pharmaceuticals in India, for $37.6 million.

Other drug makers, including Teva, Mylan and Watson Pharmaceuticals, are also buying private generic pharmaceutical firms in preparation for the wave of patent expirations that are about to hit the industry, Reuters reports

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