Cephalon buys Gemin X for $225 million
pharmafile | March 24, 2011 | News story | Research and Development | Cephalon, lung cancer
Cephalon is to acquire oncology specialist Gemin X and gain access to its cancer candidate obatoclax.
The US biopharmaceutical firm will acquire fellow Pennsylvanian Gemin X for $225 million, with a potential $300 million for shareholders in further potential milestone payments.
Gemin X’s lead candidate is obatoclax (GX15-070) currently in a phase IIb trial in patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC).
The trial is evaluating the safety and efficacy of obatoclax as a first line treatment in combination with standard chemotherapy.
Small cell lung cancer is a rare and particularly aggressive form of the disease and only accounts for around 20% of all lung cancer cases.
There has been no change in the standard of care for ES-SCLC patients for 25 years with chemotherapy and palliative care the main options open to clinicians.
Kevin Buchi, chief executive of Cephalon, said Gemin X’s “array of novel, targeted cancer therapeutics is a welcome addition to our current oncology portfolio.
“I am particularly excited about Gemin X’s lead compound, obatoclax, which if successful has the potential to significantly benefit patients suffering from small cell lung cancer – a devastating disease for which current treatments are limited and additional therapies are desperately needed.”
This completes a recent spate of acquisitions for Cephalon that includes its $615 million purchase of specialist generics firm Mepha in April last year.
Gemin X develops cancer drugs focused on apoptotic and autophagic cell death in malignant tumours.
The company is also undertaking pre-clinical and clinical trials for obatoclax as a single agent, and in combination with standard therapies, across a wide range of other cancer indications.
Gemin X has several other targeted programmes in development, including teglarinad (GMX1777), a phase I/II novel inhibitor of NAD+ synthesis.
Ben Adams
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