GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's largest drugs company, is to acquire Reliant Pharmaceuticals for $1.65 billion (£800 million) in cash, giving it the rights to flagship drug Lovaza.

Lovaza, which is set to become a “new driver for sales growth in the US business”, is a non-statin treatment for high triglycerides, a type of fat found in the blood, which increases the risk of heart disease.

Sales of the drug soared 115 per cent in the nine months to September to reach $206 million.

It is the only Food and Drug Administration-approved prescription omega-3 product in the US for the treatment of very high triglycerides, and it has patent protection until 2018.

The non-statin dyslipidemia market was worth about $2.2 billion in 2006, according to Glaxo, and is expected to grow more than 20 per cent a year.

Chris Viehbacher, president of US pharmaceuticals at GSK, said: “The addition of Lovaza to the GSK portfolio adds a new driver of sales growth in the US business.

"It represents a strong strategic fit, complementing Coreg CR, a leading treatment for heart failure and hypertension, and adds to our growing profile in the cardiovascular disease area,” he said.

Reliant, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company focused on cardiovascular therapies, recorded net sales of $341 million in the nine months ending September 30, an increase of 62 per cent over last year.

GSK expects that the transaction will add to earnings slightly in 2008, excluding integration costs, and will create additional value in following years.

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