AaiPharma Inc. agreed to pay about $100 million for four pain products from Elan Corp. plc, which continues to shed assets in an effort to retain fiscal stability while focusing on core therapeutic areas.

The portfolio of pain management products includes three brands of Schedule II pain products - Roxicodone (oxycodone hydrochloride) tablets and oral solutions, Oramorph SR (morphine sulfate sustained-release) tablets, and Roxanol (morphine sulfate) oral solutions, as well as a nonscheduled product, Duraclon (clonidine hydrochloride injection).

Officials from both companies could not be reached for comment.

When the deal is consummated, the oral Schedule II products will become aaiPharma's first such drugs in augmenting its portfolio of branded pain therapies. The specialty pharmaceutical firm said they would complement its existing Darvon/Darvocet portfolio of Schedule IV pain products. AaiPharma added that Duraclon complements its injectable pain product line, which already includes an injectable methadone product.

For the period ended June 30, aaiPharma booked $6 million in total product sales, a figure that included its existing pain drugs as well as other offerings.

AaiPharma said the pain product transaction would be accretive upon its launch of the products. For Dublin, Ireland-based Elan, 2002 sales of the products produced net revenue of $59.8 million. The company, which said their carrying value as an intangible asset at Sept. 30 amounted to about $68 million, expects to record a pre-tax gain of about $30 million related to the deal.

The transaction includes a $51.6 million cash payment to Elan, including about $3 million for product inventory. Wilmington, N.C.-based aaiPharma will acquire the inventory at closing, which is expected to occur later this quarter, meaning the estimated inventory value could be subject to change.AaiPharma also will assume $51.4 million of Elan's product-related payments.

Elan said proceeds generated from the sale would be filed under its previously reported asset divestiture plan to simplify and refocus the company. The latest sale increases its total asset divestitures to nearly $1.9 billion, as Elan looks for continued flexibility in focusing on core therapeutic areas of neurology, severe pain and autoimmune diseases.

The pain drug purchase is the latest expansion bid put forth by aaiPharma, which in August proposed an all-stock merger with CIMA Labs Inc., an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based producer of several marketed products that includes an antidepressant, a narcolepsy drug, an allergy medication and a product for cancer pain. AaiPharma's bid was challenged by West Chester, Pa.-based Cephalon Inc., which countered with an all-cash $26-per-share offer that CIMA eventually rejected, though it later disclosed that a third unnamed suitor entered the bidding war with an even higher all-cash offer worth about $30 per share. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 22, 2003.)

CIMA has not made a final decision.

On Wednesday, aaiPharma's stock (NASDAQ:AAII) gained 7 cents Wednesday to close at $17.06. Elan's shares (NYSE:ELN) dropped 27 cents to close at $5.25.