Pliva has signed an agreement with Novartis’ generics division, Sandoz, for the purchase of its Spanish subsidiary Uso Racional (UR) for a total cash consideration of EUR 21.5m, the company announced today. UR represents a well known and established generics brand in Spain, with a small dedicated sales force, a complementary product portfolio to Pliva and an attractive pipeline, according to a statement released by the company. Pliva expects sales of roughly EUR 12m in 2006 from Uso Racional. The acquisition will enable Pliva to strengthen its Spanish operations.