Canadian Company That Sells Wellbutrin Merges with U.S. Drug Maker

Ontario, CanadaThe Canadian pharmaceutical company that sells Wellbutrin and a number of other medications recently completed its merger with a California drug maker.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">Shareholders for Biovail, based in Mississauga, Ontario, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, based in Aliso Viejo, California, recently voted to approve the merger, according to the Orange County Register.

The company will be based in Ontario and it is expected that about 1,100 Valeant workers will lose their jobs, according to the news source.

California Assemblymen Kevin de Leon and Jared Huffman objected to the merger in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and US Department of Justice. "With the new company being headquartered in Canada, the jobs that will be cut will be jobs in the United States," de Leon said in his letter. "That alone is worthy of serious scrutiny from the SEC."

The Register reports that the annual sales for the new company is expected to be $1.75 billion.

Biovail sells the antidepressant Wellbutrin XL, which has been connected to a number of side effects, including birth defects and depression.