Brazilian State Threatens Cross-Border Acquisitions

Pfizer is on the verge of paying US$525mn for generic maker Neo Quimica and Sanofi-Aventis has already agreed to buy Brazil's Medley, the country's largest maker of generic medicines, for about US$870mn. With BMI's pharmaceuticals team expecting the Brazilian generic market to post sales growth above 20% until 2013, one can see why the foreign companies are interested (the Sanofi-Aventis acquisition turned the French pharmaceutical giant into Latin America's top generics manufacturer). Yet this is not music to the ears of the Brazilian Health Ministry, with the undersecretary for strategic purchases, science and technology Reinaldo Guimaraes, noting that 'the ministry.