The Japanese drug company Eisai Co. announced on Monday the acquisition of MGI Pharma Inc. (whose products include treatments such as Aloxi, to prevent post chemotherapy nausea, and Dacogen, for myelodysplastic syndrome) for $3.9 billion in its attempt to further expand its business overseas.

The Japanese company has currently established its place on the U.S. pharmaceutical market by selling the Aricept Alzheimer’s disease treatment (in partnership with Pfizer), but considering the patent for this drug will expire in 2010, Eisai is looking forward to covering the cancer treatment drug market by buying MGI Pharma Inc.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008 and will be financed by Eisai itself and through bank loans. "With this purchase we can be very confident of achieving our goal of 440 billion yen in sales in the United States by March 2012 and 1 trillion yen in sales overall," Chief Executive Haruo Naito said in a press conference. The Japanese company offered $41 per share to MGI, in a deal that represents a 38.7 percent premium to MGI’s closing share price on Nov. 28, according to Reuters, the last business day before MGI said it was exploring strategic alternatives.

This is not the first step Eisai Co. has taken in the cancer treatment industry. According to Reuters, starting with last year, the Japanese company made several acquisitions, buying four cancer drugs from Ligand Pharmaceuticals and an oncology facility in North Carolina.

The deal between the two companies came as a surprise for analysts, since they expected European and U. S. companies to take interest in MGI Pharma Inc’s acquisition. This represents the largest acquisition a Japanese drug maker has made overseas and it has been fully approved by both companies’ board of directors. Eisai was advised by J.P. Morgan, while MGI was advised by Lehman Brothers.