Takeda to buy Inviragen
pharmafile | May 10, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Inviragen, Takeda
Takeda has hit the acquisition trail, putting together a $250 million package to buy private US biopharma firm Inviragen in a move designed to boost its vaccines chest.
The money – which comprises $35 million upfront plus future milestone payments of $215 million – gives the Osaka-based manufacturer access to candidate vaccines against mosquito-borne viral illness dengue and hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).
Dengue is one of four World Health Organisation future vaccine priorities, and infects 400 million people worldwide each year.
Of these, nearly 100 million develop clinical illness, around 500,000 require hospital treatment, and 20,000 – the majority of whom are children – die.
Inviragen’s lead candidate, DENVax, is a four-strain recombinant viral vaccine to prevent infection currently in Phase II, and the company’s pipeline includes a Phase I candidate designed to protect against HFMD caused by enterovirus 71.
Although HFMD is typically short in duration, there has been an increase in severe cases associated with EV71 over the last couple of years.
Inviragen has also developed a pre-clinical vaccine to protect against chikungunya – an illness endemic in 34 countries and which is also carried by mosquito.
Also of interest for Takeda is the boost that the buy will give to its R&D capabilities, since it includes Inviragen’s vaccine development centre in Singapore – a location which will be useful since many of the diseases bound up in the deal are prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region.
“The aquisition of Inviragen supports Takeda’s overall research and development programmes, long-term growth strategy and commitment to improve health through innovation and new technology,” said Tadataka Yamada, Takeda’s chief medical and scientific officer.
Last year Takeda bought LigoCyte, which has a promising norovirus vaccine candidate.
The Inviragen team, which numbers around 50 staff, will be absorbed into Takeda’s Vaccine Business Division and the deal is expected to close in the next fortnight.
Adam Hill
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