King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has agreed to acquire Alpharma, Inc. for approximately $1.6 billion. The agreement, if approved by shareholders, will expand King's pain drug business with Alpharma's drug Kadian and pain patch Flector. Alpharma also has an experimental pain drug Embeda.
   
An FDA advisory panel recently stated that the morphine-based Embeda is somewhat less attractive to drug abusers, which the agency may require the company to claim on its label. King and partner Pain Therapeutics have a similar drug, Remoxy, pending approval. An advisory panel said Remoxy appeared less susceptible to abuse than other similar drugs such as Purdue Pharma's Oxycontin.
   
According to a company statement, King expects to achieve cost savings of $50 million to $70 million in the second full year following completion of the transaction, mainly from general and administrative cost cuts and R&D savings, as well as avoiding the expense of new sales representatives for the launch of its new pain drug.
   
In 2007 King's revenue was $2.7 billion and Alpharma's revenue was $722 million.

Bristol-Myers Squibb has exercised its option to develop and commercialize Exelixis Inc.'s IND candidate XL413, a selective inhibitor of Cdc7 targeting cancer cells. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, BMS' selection of XL413 entitles Exelixis to a milestone payment of $20 million. In addition, Exelixis has exercised its option to co-develop and co-commercialize the drug in the U.S. Following the transfer of the development program BMS will lead all global activities. The parties will co-develop and co-commercialize XL413 in the U.S. and share those profits 50/50. Exelixis will be entitled to receive royalties on product sales outside of the U.S.
   
“To our knowledge, no other selective inhibitors of Cdc7 have advanced to this stage of preclinical development, giving XL413 the potential to become a first-in-class therapy,” said Michael M. Morrissey, Ph.D., president of R&D at Exelixis. “Our colleagues at Bristol-Myers Squibb have substantial expertise in developing and commercializing innovative cancer therapies, and we are excited to have another opportunity to work with them.”
   
“Providing innovative medicines to patients with cancer is central to our company’s mission,” said Francis Cuss, senior vice president, Discovery and Exploratory Clinical Research, BMS. “Cdc7 inhibition represents a novel approach to cancer treatment and we are pleased to add XL413 to our growing pipeline of cancer compounds, and to further expand our productive collaborations with Exelixis.”

Akorn, Inc. has entered into a five-year contract manufacturing supply  agreement with an undisclosed drug company. Akorn will be responsible for the manufacturing and supply of the ophthalmic drug product. Akorn is the ANDA holder and expects to begin supplying the product in the first half of 2009.

Arthur S. Przybyl, Akorn’s president and chief executive officer stated, “We are very pleased to have been selected as the contract manufacturer for this ophthalmic product. The completion of this agreement represents the fifth new ophthalmic partnership in 2008 for  our contract manufacturing business. We continue to seek opportunities in ophthalmics, liquid and lyophilized injectable products in order to expand our contract pharmaceutical business segment revenues.”

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has granted AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals' motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) halting sales of Teva's generic Pulmicort Respules (budesonide inhaled solution). In conjunction with the order against Teva, AZ will also stop all sales of its authorized generic budesonide inhalation suspension product and take the necessary steps to comply with the Court's decision. Par Pharmaceutical is the licensed distributor for AZ's generic version of Pulmicort Respules.
   
The TRO remains in effect until further notice by the Court. This action does not impact sales of branded Pulmicort Respules.

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