Alright Pharma Investors, time for the daily pharma watch. And please forgive me, but I have been having technical issues with my email system, so the email will go out delayed today. Today I cover: CTIC, ATHX, and VVUS.
Cell Therapeutics (CTIC):
Cell Therapeutics said this morning that their drug Pixantrone received orphan drug designation in Europe for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Just like in America, when a drug is considered an orphan drug in Europe the company usually faces lower regulatory fees and gets assistance for clinical trial designs. In the U.S. however, there is also certain marketing exclusivity periods that the drug would get.
Atherseys (ATHX):
Well hasn’t Pfizer hasn’t become the most aggressive buyer of small cap pharma companies lately. This morning Athersys announced that they had inked a deal to develop and commercialize MultiStem(R) for the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (”IBD”). If you ask me this is a sweetheart deal for Pfizer because the company only has to pay $6 million up front for the drug. If the drug reaches certain milestones, then Athersys could receive up to a $105 million in payments. The deal is also structured to give tiered royalty payments to Athersys if the drug hits certain sales goals. This brings me to my next subject.
Vivus (VVUS):
I’m sure some of you pharma investors have heard the rumor that Pfizer was looking to close a deal on Vivus for $15-16 a share. I’ll be honest here, I have no foresight into this deal, but what I do remember was just how shorthanded Protalix investors came up when Pfizer inked the deal for their Gaucher’s disease drug two weeks ago. In my opinion and in a lot of investor’s Pfizer underpaid for the drug and I’m concerned that could happen here as well. I think $15-16 is a good deal for th company given the fact that Pfizer has not yet come up with a way to replace their drugs losing patents, but when you see them get really good deals that bend in their favor you have to wonder. Hopefully, Pfizer will buyout Vivus for $16 a share and nobody will be left holding the bag.
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