Ambrose Healthcare has bought AM-Pharma for up to 161 million euros ($181 million), inking a cut-price deal for the Dutch biotech once courted by Pfizer.
Back in 2015, Pfizer paid $87.5 million for a stake in AM-Pharma and an option to buy the biotech down the line. But the Big Pharma walked away after seeing phase 2 data on the sepsis-associated kidney injury candidate ilofotase alfa.
AM-Pharma then persuaded other investors to commit 163 million euros ($183 million) to fund a phase 3 trial, only to see that study flop. AM-Pharma was forced to lay off staff and pivot to other indications.
Three years after charting its new course, AM-Pharma has found a buyer. Ambrose, a British rare disease specialist, has purchased the biotech for a financial package that includes an upfront payment and milestones tied to the commercialization of ilofotase alfa in hypophosphatasia (HPP).
HPP is a rare inherited disease characterized by a deficiency in an enzyme essential for bone mineralization. The disease is one of two indications that AM-Pharma alighted on after the failure of its phase 3 study. AM-Pharma ran a phase 1/2 trial in HPP in 2023, generating evidence of ilofotase alfa’s effect on relevant biomarkers.
Working as an enzyme replacement therapy, ilofotase alfa could help relieve symptoms and improve quality of life in people with HPP. Ambrose plans to apply its rare disease expertise and capabilities to build on the foundations provided by AM-Pharma.
“It is exactly the kind of asset we built Ambrose to develop: The hard, expensive work of demonstrating in clinical studies that a molecule is safe and has the potential to be effective in a rare disease indication has already been done,” Ambrose CEO Toby Wilson Waterworth said in a statement.
Most of the existing data come from indications other than HPP. In addition to the phase 3 sepsis trial, AM-Pharma ran a midphase study assessing the drug candidate for the prevention of renal damage after cardiac surgery. The trial, which started in 2023 and enrolled 271 patients, found ilofotase alfa did not benefit short- or longer-term renal function.
Ilofotase alfa is the third drug candidate in Ambrose’s pipeline. In 2024, the company exercised its option on renzapride, a potential treatment for gastrointestinal manifestations of cystic fibrosis. The next year, Ambrose took up its option on VAL401, an oral reformulation of the atypical antipsychotic risperidone that it is developing for pancreatic cancer.
Ambrose sees the AM-Pharma deal benefiting its overall business. AM-Pharma has European regulatory, quality and scientific infrastructure “that would have taken us some time to establish on our own, and a strong base from which to develop the rest of our pipeline,” Waterworth said.