BioMarin To Take Over LEAD Therapeutics

Published: 05-Feb-2010

BioMarin has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire LEAD Therapeutics, a drug discovery and early stage development company with key compound, LT-673, an orally available poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor for the treatment of patients with rare, genetically-defined cancers.

As per the agreement, BioMarin will pay LEAD $18m upfront and will pay an additional $11m upon acceptance of the IND filing (filing expected by the end of 2010), and up to $68m for development and launch milestones for LT-673.

Jean-Jacques Bienaime, chief executive officer of BioMarin, said: "The acquisition of LEAD Therapeutics will augment our development pipeline of orphan therapeutics. With LT-673 we see a tremendous opportunity to apply our expertise in developing therapeutics for genetic diseases to the field of oncology by targeting cancers with defined genetic mutations that make them susceptible to treatment with agents such as LT-673.

"There are attractive opportunities to treat rare cancers with PARP-sensitive mutations, as a single agent and in combination with other DNA damaging agents, and to improve on PARP inhibitors currently in development for more common tumor types. We remain centrally focused on our core commercial business, the launch of amifampridine for LEMS in Europe and our Phase 2 PEG-PAL and GALNS development programs. We can now also look forward to an IND filing for LT-673 by the end of 2010."

Hank Fuchs, executive vice president and chief medical officer of BioMarin, said: "PARP inhibitors have shown impressive survival benefits in cancer patients with tumors that have defects in DNA repair or in combination with DNA damaging agents. There are many opportunities to achieve selective lethality with PARP inhibitors in both rare and more common cancers. LT-673 has been proven to be highly active in mouse xenograft models of human cancer and appears to have favorable properties, including potency, selectivity, and bioavailability."

As a result of this acquisition, BioMarin expects to incur approximately $11m to $13m in operating expenses and acquisition related charges in 2010. Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to be completed by mid-February 2010.

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