Teva and Ignyta shake hands in oncology deal

pharmafile | March 19, 2015 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |  CEP-32496, CEP-40125, Levact, RXDX-105, Teva, ignyta, oncology 

Ignyta has acquired four oncology R&D assets from Israeli pharma generics giant Teva in a deal worth around $42 million.

The agreement will give the US-based biotech Ignyta approximately 12% of Teva’s common shares, plus access to one clinical and three pre-clinical phase development programmes.

“Acquiring these four development stage programmes from Teva is truly transformational for Ignyta and well aligned with our strategic focus on developing first-in-class and best-in-class precision medicines to help cancer patients with unmet needs,” says Jonathan Lim, who is the chairman and chief executive of Ignyta.

One such programme includes CEP-32496 which Ignyta has renamed RXDX-105 currently in Phase I and II trials. The firm has also acquired CEP-40125 (now named RXDX-107) which is a nanoformulation of modified chemotherapy drug Levact (bendamustine) that is in late pre-clinical development.

Lim adds: “These oncology programmes add critical mass to our pipeline and further enable us to leverage our precision oncology platform, including our proprietary multiplex diagnostic assays and our CLIA certified, QSR compliant diagnostic laboratory.”

The company signed another agreement earlier this month to handover its US manufacturing facility to New Jersey-based firm G&W Laboratories. G&W will manufacture and supply 25 products in the Teva portfolio from the site in Pennsylvania, plus it will offer employment to all employees currently located at the facility.

Commenting on this week’s deal, Teva’s president of global R&D and chief scientific officer, Michael Hayden says: “Ignyta’s capabilities and focus in oncology will give these assets the best chance of realizing their potential for patients, and of maximizing their value for Teva.”

Tom Robinson