BMS makes $325m biotech acquisition
pharmafile | July 25, 2011 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | BMS, biotech, research and development news
Bristol-Myers Squibb is to plug gaps in its pipeline by buying private biotech company Amira Pharmaceuticals for $325 million in cash.
San Diego-based Amira specialises in developing drugs to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, and the latter area has particularly piqued BMS’ interest.
“Bristol-Myers Squibb has identified fibrotic diseases as an area of high unmet medical need that complements our research efforts in several of our therapeutic areas,” explained Elliott Sigal, BMS president of R&D.
Another acquisition in its so-called ‘string of pearls’ strategy, BMS will own all of Amira’s shares for the upfront outlay of $325 million, plus a potential $150 million in milestone payments.
Amira already has a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline to develop FLAP (5-lipoxygenase activating protein) inhibitors in respiratory and cardiovascular disease
The new deal gives BMS control over Amira’s fibrosis programme, including the company’s investigational compound AM152, an orally available lysophosphatidic acid 1 (LPA1) receptor antagonist.
This has gone through phase I clinical studies and is now set to enter phase IIa proof-of-confidence studies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and systemic sclerosis (SSc).
The agreement also sees BMS gain Amira’s preclinical autotaxin programme, which may have applications in the treatment of neuropathic pain and cancer metastases.
BMS has indicated that the scientists involved in these will be retained at Amira’s California HQ.
“Our LPA and autotaxin programmes are world leading and will be in excellent hands,” said Amira chief executive Bob Baltera.
It is an area of pharma development that is the subject of great interest at present. Last December, Gilead Sciences announced plans to acquire fellow biotech Arresto for $225 million to get its hands on the latter’s medicines that target enzymes involved in the synthesis of the extracellular matrix.
These also appear to play a role in the cause of a variety of fibrotic diseases and cancer: Arresto’s lead product AB0024 is a humanised monoclonal antibody targeting the human lysyl oxidase-like-2 (LOXL2) protein.
Phase I studies of the drug in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, plus an early stage trial in patients with advanced solid tumours, are ongoing.
Adam Hill
Related Content
Cellbyte raises $2.75m to fund pharma drug launch platform
Cellbyte has announced that it has raised $2.75m in seed funding for the streamlining of …
Lilly opens fourth US Gateway Labs site
Eli Lilly has opened its newest Lilly Gateway Labs (LGL) site in San Diego, California, …
LGC Group opens $100M Organic Chemistry Synthesis Centre of Excellence
LGC Group, a life sciences company, has opened its new Organic Chemistry Synthesis Centre of …
