Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a maker of drugs for gastrointestinal diseases, said it will acquire Santarus Inc. for about $2.6 billion to gain treatments for diabetes and heartburn.
Salix, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, will pay $32 a share in cash for San Diego-based Santarus, a 39 percent premium to Santarus’s average closing price in the last 30 trading days, the companies said in a statement yesterday.
