PARIS: French specialty drugs company Flamel Technologies is poised to relocate its headquarters to Dublin by the end of the year amid an effort to lower its effective tax rate which stood at 48 per cent last year.
Set up in Lyon in 1990, the company’s executive office has been based in Missouri since its acquisition in 2012 of a US company called Eclat. Flamel, whose products include a drug called Bloxiverz, which reverses the effects of muscle relaxants after surgery, is listed on the Nasdaq exchange in New York, with a market capitalisation of almost $540 million (€482 million).
Two years ago, the company moved all of its intangible intellectual property to Ireland from France. However, it received shareholder approval last week to reincorporate the group in this country by way of a merger with its wholly-owned subsidiary Avadel Pharmaceuticals. Avadel will become the group name from January 1st.
“Ireland is an ideal location to execute [the company’s] vision as it is quickly becoming a global pharma hub, and offers corporate governance policies more akin to those in the US,” said Mike Anderson, chief executive officer, in a statement.
