Valeant to buy Sprout for about $1 billion

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Valeant Pharmaceuticals will pay about $1 billion in cash to buy Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the maker of the first prescription drug intended to boost sexual desire in women.

The deal comes two days after U.S. regulators approved the pill Addyi, a milestone for the drug industry that could revive interest in medications for women’s sexual problems.

Founded by a husband-and-wife team, Sprout has aggressively pushed the case for their product for years, arguing in dozens of interviews that the Food and Drug Administration had unfairly overlooked women’s sexual disorders. But the company gave no hint of plans to sell the drug to a larger company.