Galen Holdings, the Northern Ireland pharmaceutical group, may consider selling off further businesses in its clinical trial services division to its founder and former president, Dr Allen McClay.
Senior industry sources say the group has held talks with Dr McClay about the future of PDMS, Galen's Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing Services business, which is based in Northern Ireland.
PDMS provides a broad range of specialist services for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotechnology industries, but is no longer considered part of Galen's core business.
Last month Dr McClay led a £25 million sterling (€41 million) management buy-out of Galen's Chemical Synthesis Services (CSS), previously considered one of the key businesses in the group's pharmaceutical services division.
Galen said the sale of CSS was part of its strategy to focus the group's attention and resources on its pharmaceutical products division, particularly in the lucrative American market. The United States is now the major focus of Galen's growth plans for the immediate future.
The group has made no secret of its desire to increase its presence in the US by expanding its product range and targeting complementary acquisitions.
Last year it raised £300 million in a share issue that also brought a windfall of new American investors to Galen. The group said it intended to spend this war chest on acquisitions in the US and is believed to be investigating a number of potential product acquisitions at this time.
Since Galen was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, it has established itself as one of the rising international pharmaceutical stars.
In those five years, its share price has increased by 430 per cent and the business has metamorphosed into a $2 billion (€2.3 billion) public company.
Its success to date is a tribute to its founder, Dr McClay, who first set up the company in Portadown in 1968 after a stint working as a salesman for pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Wellcome.
His personal vision and unstinting determination to build Galen Holdings into a worldwide company is widely credited as one of the key drivers behind the group's success.
The defining moment for Galen since its flotation was when it acquired its chief US rival, Warner Chilcott, in a £308 million deal two years ago.
According to Galen's latest financial results, more than 60 per cent of its total revenues are now generated in the US, where it employs 702 people out of a workforce of more than 1,600.
It recently completed the submission of a new drug application to the US Food and Drink Administration for its hormone delivery product, which would mark a major breakthrough in the US market for the group.
Industry analysts believe Galen is now moving closer to becoming a US-focused speciality pharma group. Dr McClure remains a significant shareholder in Galen. Although he retired last September, he retained a 20.57 per cent stake in the group.
Senior industry sources say they would not rule out the possibility of Dr McClay helping to lay the foundations for a new listed company in the North.
