Roche buys French biotech for €470 million
pharmafile | January 19, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Foundation, Genentech, Orphan, Roche, TRO19622, olesoxime, sma, trophos
Roche is buying France-based biotech Trophos in a deal worth up to €470 million in order to gain access to its promising Phase II drug olesoxime.
Trophos is developing olesoxime (TRO19622) for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) – which is a rare and debilitating genetic neuromuscular disease that is most commonly diagnosed in children.
“This acquisition highlights Roche’s commitment to developing medicines for spinal muscular atrophy, a serious disease with no effective treatment,” says Sandra Horning who is the chief medical officer and head of product development at Roche.
Under the terms of the agreement Trophos shareholders will see an upfront cash payment of €120 million, plus additional contingent payments of up to €350 million based on achievement of certain predetermined milestones.
Olesoxime is an investigational medicine designed to protect the health of motor nerve cells. It has been given an orphan medicinal product designation for the treatment of SMA by the European Medicines Agency, and orphan drug status by the FDA.
SMA is a life-limiting and highly disabling genetic disease characterised by progressive muscle weakness and loss of motor function. It affects the motor neurons of the voluntary muscles used for activities such as crawling, walking, head and neck control and swallowing.
Typically, SMA presents in early childhood and is the most common genetic cause of infant mortality according to Roche. It is one of the most common rare diseases, with one in 6,000 to one in 10,000 children affected.
Roche is starting 2015 with an open wallet and has already hit the acquisition trail just last week, when it announced a huge billion-dollar investment into cancer genomics research firm Foundation Medicine.
Unlike the Trophos deal, the Foundation move was a similar agreement to the one in which Roche initially invested in Genentech – which Roche eventually bought outright – with Foundation continuing to function as an independent company.
Despite olesoxime failing a late-stage trial in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis three years ago, Horning remains positive of the firm’s new addition: “We will build on the work done by Trophos and the French Muscular Dystrophy Association to advance the development of olesoxime and to bring it to people who live with this devastating condition as quickly as possible.”
Brett Wells
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