Shire, Amicus forge $440M pact

Amicus Therapeutics has scored a $50 million upfront payment from Shire's human genetics sub for rights outside the U.S. to three experimental therapies for genetic disorders: Amigal (migalastat hydrochloride) for Fabry disease (Phase II), Plicera (isofagomine tartrate) for Gaucher disease (Phase II) and AT2220 (deoxynojirimycin) for Pompe disease (Phase I). Amicus stands to gain $150 million for development milestones and $240 million in sales milestones plus royalties. Both companies will share expenses in the development pact. For Shire, the deal marks another expansion of its pipeline of new therapies for genetic disorders. Two years ago it paid $1.6 billion for Transkaryotic Therapies. One of the leaders in the field of new treatments for genetics disorders is Genzyme, which has been aggressively beefing up its own pipeline.

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