Actimis could breath new life into Boehringer respiratory franchise
pharmafile | June 19, 2008 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
Boehringer Ingelheim is to buy Actimis Pharmaceuticals and its pipeline asthma treatment in a deal that could be worth as much as $515 million.
The German pharma company has a heritage in respiratory treatments, and wants to expand on the current success of its COPD treatment Spiriva.
Actimis specialises in the research and development of small molecule therapeutics for severe respiratory, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and it currently has a novel compound called AP768 in phase I clinical development.
AP768 interacts with CRTH2 (chemo-attractant receptor-homologous molecule expressed on TH2 mice cells), a novel target for asthma and allergic rhinitis.
The value of the structured buyout depends on Actimis hitting agreed milestones – if AP768 reaches phase III, Boehringer will acquire Actimis outright. This is a novel approach for collaborations in the sector, and one Boehringer hope will minimise the riskiness of its investment.
Dr Peter McWilliams, president and acting chief executive of Actimis, said: "Actimis and its investors are delighted with the highly innovative structure of this transaction with Boehringer Ingelheim.
"We are excited to have consummated an agreement with a company possessing the expertise and capabilities of Boehringer Ingelheim and are convinced they will do a superb job in taking the compound through the critical and demanding further steps in development."
Boehringer says pre-clinical tests suggest the compound works better than existing oral drugs, the leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRAs), such as Merck Sharp & Dohme's Singulair.
"Actimis' compound provides an innovative addition to Boehringer Ingelheim's portfolio of development candidates for the potential treatment of respiratory diseases", said Dr Andreas Barner, Vice-Chairman of the Board Corporate Division Pharma Research, Development and Medicine at Boehringer Ingelheim.
"For many decades Boehringer Ingelheim has been advancing research and development in the respiratory area with new medicines, such as Spiriva, which has significantly improved the treatment of COPD patients."
In addition to asthma, Actimis' R&D efforts also take in inflammatory dermatoses, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
