Deals

Elan wins $55M judgment in patent scrap

John Carroll — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:38:16 -0400

Ireland's Elan won a $55.2 million judgment against Abraxis BioScience on Friday, prevailing in its case that Abraxis' breast cancer drug Abraxane uses a technology protected by an Elan patent. Abraxane was approved by the FDA three years ago. This fight is far from finished, as Abraxis says it plans to appeal the ruling.

- read the report from RTT News

ALSO: Investors are anxiously awaiting a Phase II update from Elan and Wyeth on bapineuzumab, a potential blockbuster drug targeted at the root causes of Alzheimer's. Significant success in the clinic would pave the way for a new drug to compete against therapies that offer little long-term benefit. Report

Report: Pfizer makes counter-offer for Ranbaxy

Maureen Martino — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:06:09 -0400

Pfizer may be crashing Daiichi Sankyo's party. Business Standard is reporting that Pfizer is considering a counter-offer for Ranbaxy, India's largest drugmaker. The rumor comes on the heels of the $4.6 billion offer Daiichi made just two days ago. Sources say Pfizer may "make a bid for 41.3 percent of the company from institutions and another 21.2 percent from individual shareholders." None of the companies involved have confirmed the rumors.

So why would Pfizer be interested in Ranbaxy? It turns out that there are plenty of reasons. An acquisition of Ranbaxy would give the world's largest drugmaker a big slice of the hot generic drug market. The other big reason? Lipitor. Ranbaxy is planning to launch a generic version of the $10.1 billion-a-year earner in 2010, and wouldn't it be nice for Pfizer if it could control that bit of competition? There's no word on what Ranbaxy's thoughts are on the deal. Ranbaxy says the deal is already done and that it's too late for Pfizer to make a bid, but this battle may just be getting started.

- read the WSJ report
- here's a Forbes article for more

Lilly pays $35M to land TransPharma pact

John Carroll — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:57:39 -0400

Eli Lilly is forking over a $35 million upfront payment to nail down the worldwide licensing rights to TransPharma Medical's ViaDerm-hPTH osteoporosis product and a non-exclusive license to its ViaDerm drug delivery system. The two developers will collaborate on the ongoing Phase II trial and then Lilly will take over development responsibility. The pact includes undisclosed milestones and royalties.

"This agreement expands the scope of our osteoporosis program with a novel, patient-centered approach that builds upon our success with Evista and Forteo," commented Dr. Gwen Krivi, vice president of Lilly Research Labs. "As we focus on developing a transdermal PTH product with TransPharma, we will leverage our combined expertise, with the goal of providing patients with a product that meets their desire for an alternative to injection for PTH."

- read the release
- check out the AFX report

Symphogen inks $330M collaboration pact with Genentech

John Carroll — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:15:13 -0400

Denmark's Symphogen has inked a $330 million collaboration deal with Genentech to discover new antibodies for three infectious disease targets. Symphogen gets an undisclosed equity investment as well as an undisclosed upfront payment, which will be used to fund a lead program in a mid-stage trial. Genentech gets a worldwide license on the developed candidates and will fund related R&D costs. The pact is a coup for Symphogen, which has smaller deals in place with Sweden's Biovitrum AB and Japan's Meiji Seika Kaisha.

According to a report in BioWorld, Symphogen has developed a rapid process for cloning antibodies as well as a more efficient manufacturing process.

"This deal underscores our belief that Symphogen's technologies offer a valuable approach to create next-generation therapeutics that address critical unmet medical needs in the treatment of serious infections," said Kirsten Drejer, Ph.D., CEO of Symphogen.

- check out the press release
- read the story from BioWorld

Novo Nordisk discontinues Phase III on disappointing results

John Carroll — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:14:01 -0400

Concluding that a late-stage trial of its experimental therapy to prevent bleeding in trauma patients was headed to a likely failure, Novo Nordisk discontinued the study of NovoSeven. "Due to an observed lower mortality than anticipated in the overall study group (around 10 percent in the Phase III trial in total compared to more than 25 percent in the Phase II trial), a futility analysis was conducted to assess the likelihood of reaching a successful outcome on the primary endpoint. The analysis predicted a low likelihood of obtaining a positive trial outcome with the planned study population, and as a consequence, Novo Nordisk has decided to discontinue the trial," the company announced.

"It is regrettable that this trial is coming to an end," said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and CSO. "It has, however, already now provided a lot of important data on the treatment of severely injured patients. We will share these findings with the medical community as soon as the full clinical analysis has been completed."

- check out Novo's release

Daiichi Sankyo acquires Ranbaxy in $4.6B deal

John Carroll — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:12:29 -0400

Ranbaxy's drive to become a research-based drug developer and major manufacturer has led it straight into the welcoming arms of Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, which announced it is buying a majority stake in the Indian pharma company. After Sankyo completes a buyout of the founding Singh family's stake in the company, Ranbaxy will become a subsidiary operation. The deal is valued at $4.6 billion and will create a combined company worth about $30 billion.

That move positions Daiichi Sankyo to become a major supplier of low-priced generics to Japan's aging population and accelerates a trend by Japanese pharma companies to enter emerging Asian markets, where they see much of their future growth. The acquisition stunned investors and analysts alike, who were caught off guard by a bold move from a conservative player in the industry.

- check out this release for more on the deal
- read the report from The Times

Pfizer blazes new research path

John Carroll — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:58:25 -0400

Taking a page from the biotech playbook, Pfizer has just inked a three-year, $9.5 million research collaboration pact with the University of California, San Francisco. The money will be used to fund early scientific work into new therapies and devices. Pfizer report

Vertex shares rise on positive data for telaprevir

John Carroll — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:52:41 -0400

Vertex Pharmaceuticals saw a significant bump in its share price this morning after researchers released new, mid-stage interim data backing telaprevir for hepatitis C. The company is now penciling in the start of a new late-stage trial for the closely watched drug--enrolling patients who had failed standard therapy--in the third quarter. The new data is from a Phase IIb involving patients who had failed a standard therapy.

In the study, patients received telaprevir in combination with interferon/ribavirin for 12 weeks, then the combination therapy for the next 12 weeks followed by 12 weeks of neither therapy. The control arm received the combination therapy for 36 weeks. Slightly more than half of the telaprevir group had undetectable levels of the virus after 36 weeks compared to 30 percent in the control group. A late stage trial for the hep C drug began in spring with patients who had received no prior therapy.

- check out the press release
- read the AP report

Ipsen inks a string of deals in expansion effort

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

France's Ipsen is buying out Tercica in a $404 million deal, one of three new pacts designed to make Ipsen a billion-dollar a year player in the U.S. Ipsen will pay $9 a share for every share of Tercica it doesn't already own. That's more than double Tercica's $4.41 a share close yesterday. Like a lot of developers, Tercica's been losing money. But the biotech recently launched Somatuline for acromegaly, a pituitary gland disorder.

In a separate deal, Ipsen is buying out Vernalis' U.S. subsidiary, gaining the North American rights to Apokyn. And it inked a deal to acquire Octagen's OBI-1, which is being developed to treat hemophilia. The Octagen deal includes $10.5 million upfront and up to $26 million in milestones.

Taken together, Ipsen says the new acquisitions will position Ipsen to become a significant commercial player in the U.S.

- read Ipsen's release for more

Exelixis gets $150M credit line

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Exelixis has struck a $150 million financing deal with Deerfield Management. At Exelixis discretion, the developer can draw down the money as needed over the next 18 months in $15 million installments.

"This transaction significantly increases our financial strength and flexibility over the next 18 months, even if we don't draw on the facility," said George A. Scangos, president and chief executive of Exelixis. "The Deerfield facility gives us the time to see our way through this period of major pipeline and business milestones and puts us in a position of strength as we advance our various partnering discussions."

- here's the release on the financing
- read the AP report