Sucampo acquires Vtesse
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, a global biopharmaceutical company, has acquired Vtesse, a privately held rare disease company, for upfront consideration of $200 million. Sucampo funded the acquisition through the issuance of 2,782,678 shares of Sucampo Class A common stock and $170 million of cash on hand; no external financing was utilized.
Strategic and Financial Benefits of the Transaction
- Acquisition provides Sucampo with VTS-270, which is in a pivotal study for the treatment of Niemann-Pick Disease Type C1 (NPC-1)
- Builds on Sucampo’s capabilities, global development platform and focus on specialized areas of high, unmet medical need
- Fully-enrolled global pivotal clinical trial, with results expected in mid-2018
- Sucampo provides capabilities and resources to accelerate the global development and potential commercialization of VTS-270
- Aligns with Sucampo’s patient-focused mission and contributes to goal of building an increasingly diversified, global biopharmaceutical company
- Product is expected to be launched and accretive to earnings beginning in 2019
- Vtesse team will continue to support the advancement of VTS-270
Niemann-Pick Disease Type C1 is a rare genetic disorder that begins impacting the lives of those affected from birth to early adulthood. Clinical symptoms do not slow or reverse, with complications from neurological manifestations being the primary cause of eventual fatalities
VTS-270 is a well-characterized mixture of 2-hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrins (HPßCD) with a specific compositional fingerprint that distinguishes it from other HPßCD mixtures. It is administered by an intrathecal infusion to directly address the neurological manifestations of disease. Preclinical and early clinical studies suggest that the administration of VTS-270 may slow or stop certain indicators of NPC-1, an ultra-orphan, progressive and fatal disease caused by a defect in lipid transport within the cell. VTS-270, which is currently in a pivotal Phase 2b/3 trial, has been granted breakthrough therapy designation in the U.S. and orphan designation in both the U.S. and EU. Effective treatment of NPC remains a high unmet need, with no approved products for patients in the U.S. Results from the pivotal trial are expected in mid-2018.
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