Valeant withdraws ISTA acquisition offer

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX and TSX: VRX) today announced that it has withdrawn its offer to acquire ISTA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ISTA) for $7.50 per share in cash.  Valeant had previously announced that the offer would only remain open until January 31, 2012, but withdrew the offer today due to lack of progress. 

"As we stated last December, we were not interested in participating in a lengthy evaluation process and we are disappointed that the ISTA team was not willing to fully explore our proposal by January 31," stated J. Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer.  "We continue to be disciplined on our M&A strategy and we are actively working on other opportunities that we believe can create value for our shareholders. We wish the ISTA team well in their future endeavors."