Allergan in $200 million purchase of biopharmaceutical
pharmafile | October 28, 2016 | News story | Medical Communications | Allergan, Motus Therapeutics, Rythm Holding, Teva
Allergan will acquire Motus Therapeautics, a biopharmaceutical company that specialises in developing treatments for gastroparesis. It is another acquisition that further builds Allergan’s portfolio within gastrointestinal diseases. They had previously announced plans to acquire Tobira Therapeutics and Akarna Therapeutics on 20 September.
Motus Therapeutics, until Allergan’s buyout, was a subsidiary of Rhythm Holding, who will be in line to receive additional payment subjects to the first commercial sale of relamorelin. Relamorelin is Motus’ lead drug candidate and is a ghrelin agonist being developed for diabetic gastroparesis. There has been no new drug approved for the treatment of gastroparesis by the FDA since 1983.
The news of the acquisition was announced at the same time as the release of results from a recent Phase IIb clinical trial looking at the efficacy and safety of relamorelin. The results show that patients receiving relamorelin experienced a roughly 75% reduction in vomiting frequency across all doses. This is a continuation of similar results shown in previous Phase II trials.
“The clinical results with relamorelin in this Phase 2b trial in diabetic gastroparesis are very encouraging. Based on these results and the results observed in the earlier phase 2a trial, Allergan has exercised its option to acquire Motus Therapeutics and intends to initiate Phase 3 clinical trials of relamorelin,” said David Nicholson, Executive Vice President of Global Research and Development for Allergan. “We very much look forward to sharing this phase 2b data with the US Food and Drug Administration and to discussing our plans to conduct Phase 3 trials.”
Ben Hargreaves
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