A company that markets two monoclonal antibodies for certain rare disorders is acquiring a firm developing small-molecule drugs that target the same types of diseases.
Boston-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals said Wednesday that it would acquire Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Achillion Pharmaceuticals for $930 million. Shares of Achillion were up more than 70 percent on the Nasdaq Wednesday morning following the news, while shares of Alexion were down about 2 percent.
Achillion has two drugs in clinical development, namely ACH-4471 (danicopan) and ACH-5228, respectively in Phase II and Phase I development. Danicopan is being combined with Alexion’s C5 inhibitor Soliris (eculizumab) in a Phase II study that has completed enrollment among patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, or PNH, who have had an inadequate response to Soliris alone. It is also in a Phase II study in C3 glomerulopathy (C3G) that is fully enrolled, as well as an ongoing Phase II monotherapy study in PNH. ACH-5228 is in a Phase I study in PNH, with plans to initiate a Phase II trial in the first half of next year, as well as Phase I development in other complement alternative pathway-mediated diseases. Both drugs are oral Factor D inhibitors.
“Alexion has demonstrated the transformative impact that inhibiting C5 can have on multiple rare and devastating diseases,” Alexion CEO Ludwig Hantson said in a statement. “However, we believe this is just the beginning of what’s possible with complement inhibition.”
In a call with investment bank analysts Wednesday morning, Alexion executives touted the deal’s benefits to the company, including the opportunity to diversify into additional complement-mediated diseases using oral therapies, enhance PNH treatment and the potential for danicopan as a first-in-class treatment for C3G, which lacks Food and Drug Administration-approved therapies.
Alexion’s lead products are Soliris and its longer-acting successor, Ultomiris (ravulizumab-cwvz). Both drugs are approved for PNH, while Soliris is additionally approved for atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, or aHUS, and both are in development for other indications as well. Soliris, which received FDA approval in 2007, faces a biosimilar competitive threat from Amgen’s ABP 959, albeit not until the next decade.
Nevertheless, on the call, Hantson downplayed the suggestion that the acquisition of Achillion was meant to protect the company from biosimilar competition to Soliris. “We’re focusing on patient needs here,” he said.
Multiple analysts expressed concerns that the Federal Trade Commission could scrutinize the deal, though Aradhana Sarin, the company’s chief strategy and business officer, said the company would address questions from the FTC if they come up.
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