Actelion CEO looking for deals, no rush

LONDON (Reuters) - Biotech firm Actelion ATLN.S is looking to strike licensing deals for new drugs and to make acquisitions but it sees no pressure to do either, its chief executive told the Reuters Biotechnology Summit on Thursday.

"I think we are in a very nice situation where we have the infrastructure and therefore we can license any product or if necessary make an acquisition," Jean-Paul Clozel told the Summit, held in London, in a telephone interview.

"There is no emergency (as) we are going to have very interesting new products and we have a rich pipeline," he said.

"It is clearly something we are looking at but what we will not do is spend a lot of money to acquire on a non-innovative product or a product which is near the end of its life.

"We are and have been very active, we just need to find the right products," he said.

Actelion, which earlier announced a strong rise in full-year profits but disappointed investors with its outlook for 2006, might be able to reach its net revenue forecast of 1 billion Swiss francs in 2008, Clozel said.

The firm said earlier it would reach the target by 2009 at the latest.

"If we reach it in 2008 it means we are going to be able to go above this billion in 2009. We will guide the market later," he said, adding that much would depend on demand for its key Tracleer drug from Japan.

"It is possible in 2008, yes," he said.