Grünenthal buys Valinor and constipation drug for $250m

German pain medicines specialist Grünenthal has dipped another toe in the M&A waters with a $250 million agreement to buy US drugmaker Valinor Pharma.

The deal is essentially a move to take control of Movantik (naloxegol), which is indicated for the treatment of one of the most prominent side effects of opioid analgesics – constipation – in adult patients with chronic non-cancer pain. The product made $200 million in US sales last year.

Grünenthal already owns rights to Movantik in the EU – where it is sold as Movantig – under the terms of an earlier deal with Japan's Kyowa Kirin, which saw it take majority rights to 13 mature medicines. The agreement initially created a joint venture, 51% owned by the German company, which intends to buy out its partner in early 2026.

After buying Valinor, Grünenthal will have total control over naloxegol brands in all markets outside Canada. Movantik's sales performance was steadily declining before Valinor acquired the brand in early 2023, but has shown consistent growth since then.

"As a pain specialist, Movantik is a perfect fit for Grünenthal with our existing customer base and complementary product portfolio," remarked Grünenthal's chief executive, Gabriel Baertschi.

He also said the acquisition of Valinor would strengthen Grünenthal's position in the US, "the most important growth market" for the company.

Its current portfolio includes a topical capsaicin product called Qutenza for post-shingles nerve pain and diabetic nerve pain affecting the feet, along with non-opioid analgesic resiniferatoxin, which is in phase 3 testing in patients with knee osteoarthritis and has breakthrough designation from the FDA.

Grünenthal is hoping for regulatory approvals for resiniferatoxin in the US, Europe, and Japan in 2026.

The Valinor deal continues a strategy by Grünenthal to grow its portfolio through acquisition, growing its revenues from €1.3 billion in 2017, when it launched the drive, to €1.8 billion (nearly $2 billion) last year.

Deals signed in that period have included a €495 million acquisition of testosterone replacement therapy Nebido for male hypogonadism from Bayer in European and Latin American markets.

Earlier deals included the acquisition from AstraZeneca of several products – including cholesterol drug Crestor (rosuvastatin), gastrointestinal disease therapy Nexium (esomeprazole), migraine therapy Zomig (zolmitriptan), and anti-inflammatory drug Vimovo (naproxen/esomeprazole) - as well Qutenza from Acorda Therapeutics.

Resiniferatoxin was added to its pipeline through the takeover of Swiss biotech company Mestex for an undisclosed sum in 2021.