The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • B3

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2006 BUSINESS THE RECORD B-3 NEW JERSEYMETRO Cambrex to sell 2 bio businesses for $460M in February, when the 25-year-old Cambrex announced it was looking into strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. The company said Tuesday that it could create additional shareholder value by retaining the human health unit, but would remain open to "strategic alternatives," including the possibility of a sale. Last year, Cambrex explored moving into the wound-care market, but ultimately decided it was too risky. The sale of plants in Ireland and Belgium is part of the company's efforts to streamline operations. Cambrex stock rose $1.53 Tuesday to close at $23.11.

Company to focus on its health unit By KATHLEEN LYNN STAFF WRITER EAST RUTHERFORD Cambrex Corp. announced Tuesday that it will sell two major divisions its bioproducts and biopharma segments to the Swiss life-sciences company Lonza Group for $460 million. The two units accounted for 42 percent of Cambrex's $452 million in sales in 2005. They employ about 1,000 people, or half the company's workforce. "From the shareholder value perspective, the sale of the bio businesses today at the price Lonza was willing to pay was absolutely the right thing to do," said Luke Beshar, the company's chief financial officer.

Beshar said Lonza is expected to keep most of the bio businesses' employees, but that Cambrex probably will cut some jobs as part of a plan to reduce costs by $8 million a year. He could not predict how many jobs might be eliminated. Cambrex employs about 60 people at its East Rutherford headquarters. The company has manufacturing and research plants in 17 locations around the world, including North Brunswick; Baltimore; sell two of its plants in Ireland and Belgium in a move unrelated to Tuesday's announcement. With the sale of the bio businesses, Cambrex will concentrate on its human-health unit, which supplies ingredients to the pharmaceutical industry.

"We are confident that our strong customer relationships and talented employee base give us a solid foundation for winning new business in the growing health-care markets," said James A. Mack, president and CEO. As a result of the bio businesses sale, Cambrex shareholders will receive a special dividend of $13.50 to $14.50 per share. The sale is the result of a process begun Cambrex Corp. Headquarters: East Rutherford Cambrex plans to sell two units to the Swiss company Lonza Group for $460 million: Biopharma: $42 million annual sales Bioproducts: $150 million annual sales Cambrex will keep: Human Health: $260 million annual sales Source: The company Mumbai, India; Barcelona, Spain; Tokyo; Milan, Italy; and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Cambrex last week announced plans to E-mail: lynnnorthjersey.com N.J. Making way for Harrison's MetroCentre Ill Rl Ufl i ll. mm -v. -L I "j.f IL '-Tr A -I II KM i i lm I. lpfe Turner Construction and Mazzocchi Wrecking recently began demolition space, residential and retail units, parking and the Red Bull of the Guyon General Piping Co.

building in Harrison to make way for Ad- Park, the new home for New Jersey's professional soccer team. Demoli-vance Realty Group's Harrison MetroCentre. It will include Class A office tion is scheduled to be completed within two weeks. New York Times scales back its space at tower lease out 5 floors Woman drops Vioxx lawsuit against Merck WHITEHOUSE STATION A plaintiff in one of thousands of lawsuits against Merck Co. over its now-withdrawn pain reliever Vioxx has dropped her lawsuit two weeks before her trial was to begin, the company announced Tuesday.

Merck said it was the fourth case set for trial in a statewide legal proceeding in Texas where the plaintiff has dropped out or the case has been dismissed before the trial. A trial around Sharon Rigby's claims was scheduled to begin Nov. 8. The company said Rigby claimed Vioxx caused her heart attack even though she was a smoker, had other risk factors for heart attacks and was suing another pharmaceutical company. Some 21,000 lawsuits alleging injuries caused by Vioxx have been filed, the majority of them in New Jersey, where Merck is based.

Merck pulled Vioxx from the market two years ago after a study found it increased patients risk of heart attacks and strokes. Other trials are scheduled to begin next week in Louisiana and California. A trial involving eight plaintiffs is scheduled to begin in January in Atlantic City. gets court to block generic epilepsy drug NEW BRUNSWICK Johnson Johnson won a court ruling that prevents Mylan Laboratories Inc. from selling a generic version of the epilepsy treatment Topamax while a patent-infringement suit is pending.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler said Ortho-McNeil unit was likely to win the suit. Mylan had received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to begin sales of the drug last month. Topamax, or topiramate, treats epileptic seizures and helps prevent migraines.

The medicine had sales of $495 million in the second quarter and $1.4 billion last year for Novartis recalls 500,000 doses of flu vaccine EAST HANOVER Novartis AG has recalled 500,000 doses of a flu vaccine in the U.S. after some were found frozen. The vaccine, shipped to New York and other states under a federal program, doesn't pose a safety risk, according to a notice Tuesday on the Food and Drug Administration's Web site. Freezing the vaccine can make it ineffective. Manufacturers expect to make as many as 115 million doses of vaccine available in the U.S.

for the flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Novartis plans to replace the doses being recalled. Avaya sees profit drop despite sales increase BASKING RIDGE Avaya the world's biggest maker of corporate-telephone gear, said fourth-quarter profit tumbled because of costs to cut jobs and a year-earlier tax credit. Sales rose 5 percent as companies upgraded their phone networks. Net income for the period ended Sept.

30 fell 93 percent to $48 million, or 10 cents a share, from $660 million, or $1.36, a year earlier, the company said. Revenue rose to $1.36 billion, from $1.3 billion. Both profit and sales exceeded analysts' estimates. Lucent's income tops analyst expectations MURRAY HILL Lucent Technologies the phone equipment maker being bought by Alcatel SA, reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as sales rose for the first time in a year. Shares of both companies gained.

In what may be its last earnings report, Lucent's net income was $371 million, or 7 cents a share, from $372 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier, Lucent said. Revenue rose 5.3 percent to $2.56 billion, while most analysts expected a drop. Sales to North American wireless communications companies helped boost revenue, Chief Executive Officer Patricia Russo said on a conference call. Paris-based Alcatel is buying Lucent to tap potential spending by its North American customers. Lucent's U.S.

sales rose 17 percent to $1.77 billion in the just-ended quarter. The fourth-quarter profit beat the 4-cent average estimate of 25 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Sales surpassed expectations as well, as 20 analysts Thomson surveyed estimated a decline to $2.39 billion. From news service reports nice return on it, which they can," Tosko said. The Web site of Crain's New York Business reported the pending leasing effort earlier Tuesday.

Midtown Manhattan office rents rose in the third quarter to record $65.80 a square foot for the best-quality space, according to research by Grubb Ellis a competitor of CBRE. The 52-story tower, across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal west of Times Square, was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. the 23rd through 27th floors of the 52-story New York Times Tower. The leases may generate about $10 million to $12 million a year, said Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for the New York Times. The decision underscores the pressures on the third-largest U.S.

newspaper company, which is eliminating 750 jobs and cutting the size of its flagship newspaper amid a slide in net income and revenue. Profit fell 39 percent in the most recent quarter, the company said last week. "We don't have the same space re quirements as we did before," Mathis said Tuesday. "As part of our normal commitment to financial discipline, we've been looking for ways to lower our occupancy costs." The skyscraper on Eighth Avenue is scheduled for completion next year. While no asking price for the floors has been set, the company probably will seek something "in the range" of $85 a square foot, said Greg Tosko, a CBRE vice chairman who handles the New York Times account.

The space "is valuable in the marketplace and they feel they can get a of new skyscraper By DAVID M. LEVITT BLOOMBERG NEWS NEW YORK The New York Times Co. will give up five of the 28 floors it intended to occupy at its new headquarters as the publisher eliminates jobs and cuts expenses. Commercial real estate brokers from CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. are marketing the 155,000 square feet on THE RECORD 70 BJ's follows Wal-Mart's lead, cuts generic drug price to $4 BJ's Pharmacy has New Jersey stores in Deptford, Edison, Jersey City, Linden, Voorhees and Watchung.

The company said it has also dropped the prices of some generic prescriptions at its locations in Delaware, Florida and New York. The company said in a statement that although BJ's Wholesale Club is a membership-based business, consumers do not need a membership to utilize its full-service pharmacy. E-mail: prialnorthjersey.com By DUNSTAN PRIAL STAFF WRITER NATICK, Mass. BJ's Wholesale Club said Tuesday that its BJ's Pharmacy locations in New Jersey will now charge $4 for 30-day supplies of some generic prescriptions. The price cuts follow last week's announcement by Wal-Mart that the world's largest retailer will expand its program of $4 generic drugs from Florida to 14 additional states, including New Jersey.

YTD YTD Name Last Chg Chg Name Last Chg Chg AEP Ind 51.59 1.14 106.4 Infcrssing 12.73 47.9 Inc 34.73 .02 41 .8 IngerRd 38.40 .06 Alpharma 22.00 Innodata 1.70 AstaFdg 33.26 .08 21.7 IntchgFS 22.84 32.4 Audible 7.40 JacksnHew 32.01 .70 15.5 AutoData 47.80 4.1 Johnjn 68.75 14.4 Avaya 11.79 10.5 KearnyFn 15.94 30.7 AvisBudget 19.39 .24 LakeldB 13.66 BkofAm 53.43 15.8 Lucent 2.49 .15 BarrPhm 52.47 MackCali 52.15 .41 22.5 BectDck 71.28 18.6 MedcoHlth 56.68 1.6 BedBath 39.46 9.2 Merck 45.93 .23 44.4 BioRef 23.75 .24 26.3 Movado 26.15 .03 42.9 BrMySq 24.75 .18 7.7 Novartis 60.32 14.9 Cambrex 23.11 1.53 23.1 PDI Inc 10.97 CantelMed 14.12 PNC 68.49 10.8 Celgenes 45.12 39.3 ParPhrm If 19.73 ChildPlcIf 68.98 .16 39.6 Pathmrk 10.04 .5 Chubb 54.03 10.7 Pfizer 27.26 16.9 CogTech 77.93 55.0 Prudentl 77.52 5.9 CmcBNJ 35.08 1.9 PSEG 61.12 CtlAirB 36.44 .54 71.1 QstDiag 50.47 CovantaH 21.85 .15 45.1 Realogy 26.87 4.6 CurtisWrts 33.06 21.1 RussBerrie 15.56 36.3 Cytec 53.31 1.01 11.9 Sanofi 44.15 .6 DRSTech 44.88 SchergPI 23.17 .34 11.1 Datascpe 34.42 .23 4.1 SealAir 56.35 .39 .3 Emdeon 11.81 39.6 UtRetail 19.19 45.9 GtAtPcs 27.44 9.1 VlyNBcp 25.59 .35 11.5 GrtrCoB 15.51 .01 6.7 VerizonCm 38.00 26.2 Honwlllntl 42.82 .73 15.0 VitalSgn 56.83 32.7 HovnanE 30.95 .79 Vornado 115.10 37.9 HudsCity 13.78 .16 13.7 Wachovia 55.96 .06 5.9 ID Sys 20.91 Wyeth 52.32 .47 13.6 IDT Corp 12.95 10.7 Wyndham 29.56 Barr finishes deal for Pliva have a presence in over 30 countries, employ about 8,000 people and have annual revenue of about $2.4 billion. The acquisition enables Barr to expand its reach to European markets. However, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission challenged the deal last week, saying it would lead to higher prices of some "lifesaving" generic drugs because of diminished competition. The FTC says that Barr must sell or divest four generic medications within 10 to 60 days after the acquisition is complete, or face a penalty.

Neither Barr nor Pliva have reacted to the FTC demand. Bloomberg News WOODCLIFF LAKE Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. completed its purchase of Croatian drug maker Pliva on Tuesday in a deal worth $2.4 billion, the companies said. Barr paid $141 per share, acquiring 95 percent of the company's voting shares. It has offered to buy the outstanding shares for the same price within four months.

The transaction marks the end of a seven-month bidding war between Barr and Iceland-based Actavis for Pliva, a leading generic-drug maker in south and eastern Europe. The Barr-Pliva combination creates the third-largest generic pharmaceutical company by revenue. The combined company will The Record 70 is a price-weighted index designed to measure the performance of the North Jersey economy. Index members are either based in New Jersey or have a large presence in the area, and have a minimum market capitalization of $25 million. The index was developed by Bloomberg News with a base value of 1 00 as of Dec.

31 1 999..