Galen has sold the last of its pharmaceutical services businesses to a company controlled by its founder and former president, Dr Allen McClay, for $16 million (€16.5 million) in cash.

The Northern Ireland company said the sale of its Interactive Clinical Technologies (ICTI) business completed the process of focusing on Galen's pharmaceutical products business.

"Since the acquisition of Warner Chilcott, our pharmaceutical products business has been the primary driver of growth," Galen's chief executive, Mr Roger Boissonneault, said.

"This sale will free up additional resources to focus on our pharmaceutical products business," he added.

Dr McClay, who stepped down as president of Galen last October - 33 years after establishing the firm in Portadown, Co Armagh - has now acquired the entire services division from the company at a cost of £166 million sterling (€260 million) since last January.

Chemical Synthesis Services (CSS) was the first business to be sold to Dr McClay, for £25 million.

He then acquired PDMS, Galen's Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing Services business, for £130 million in May.

ICTI is the last service business to be sold, although the price fetched is below the $20 million to $25 million the company had expected to raise from the sale as recently as last May.

Galen said there were three bidders for the company, the highest of which was Dr McClay. The other businesses were also sold through an auction process.

The proceeds of the sale add to Galen's already significant war chest.

At the end of the first half, the company had £268 million of cash on the balance sheet to spend on acquisitions.

Galen, which specialises in women's healthcare, skincare and urology, has said it is particularly interested in the acquisition of dermatology products.

It also said recently that it was planning to repurchase and cancel up to 15 per cent of its stock in response to weakness in its share price.

However, the rebound in its stock price since the release of third-quarter results earlier this month, means a buyback is now less likely.

Yesterday, the company's chairman, Dr John King, said Galen was not "a buyback organisation. We would prefer to invest money in growing the business."

Galen's shares, which fell from a level of around €7.30 in late-June to €4.30 a month later, have recovered most of this ground over the last fortnight.

Last night, they closed 25 cents lower in Dublin at €6.90 while in London they finished 23p lower at 434p sterling.