Viatris, a global healthcare company, announced that it has closed the divestiture of its Over-the-Counter (OTC) business to Cooper Consumer Health, a leading European over-the-counter drug manufacturer and distributor, bringing to substantial completion all previously announced divestitures.

In October, the Company announced it had entered into agreements to divest substantially all of its OTC business, as well as its Women's Healthcare business, its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) business in India and commercialization rights in certain non-core markets.

The completion of the OTC divestiture, the largest of the divestitures that the Company previously announced, is a major milestone in the execution of the Company's strategic plan to considerably simplify the organization in order to increase focus on areas with the greatest potential to accelerate growth, patient impact and shareholder value. The Company believes it found the right fit and future owners for all these well-performing businesses and has been committed to ensuring a successful transition for colleagues, partners, customers and patients.

The Company reiterated that the proceeds from its divestitures and its sector-leading cash flow generation gives it line of sight to achieving its key priorities, including: achieving its long-term gross leverage target, increasing shareholder return through share buybacks and dividends, fueling its base business and, importantly, making disciplined, strategic investments to identify, acquire, develop and commercialize innovative assets that can build off its very strong base business and drive future revenue growth.

"Closing the divestiture of our OTC business is a significant milestone in the execution of our strategic plan," said Scott A. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Viatris. "With all our previously announced divestitures now substantially complete, Viatris is stronger and more streamlined. We look forward to an exciting future in which we continue to build on our very strong base business and add to our innovative product pipeline to drive strong future revenue growth and positively affect even more patients' lives worldwide."