Teva Pharmaceutical to buy US neurology drug firm Auspex $3.5 bn

Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world's largest maker of generic drugs, yesterday said it would buy US neurology drug company Auspex Pharmaceuticals Inc for $3.5 billion.

Under the agreed deal, Teva will pay $101 per share in cash, a premium of 42.4 per cent to Auspex's Friday closing price.

Auspex is a biopharmaceutical company specialising in applying deuterium chemistry to known molecules to create novel therapies with improved safety and efficacy profiles.

Its lead investigational product, SD-809, which is being developed for the potential treatment of  abnormal involuntary movement disorder, chorea, associated with Huntington's disease, tardive dyskinesia, and Tourette syndrome.

In 2014, Auspex reported positive results from its Phase 3 clinical trial for SD-809 with plans to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) for this indication by mid-2015.

SD-809 has been granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of Huntington's disease by the US Food and Drug Administration, and Auspex expects regulatory approval and commercial launch for this indication in 2016 in the US.

Other pipeline drugs of Auspex include deuterated versions of pirfenidone for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and levodopa for Parkinson's disease. Auspex has an additional 60 molecules in its patent portfolio.

''We believe that the application of Auspex's deuterium platform to known pharmaceuticals holds great promise across a wide spectrum of neurological diseases and associated movement disorders, including Huntington's disease, tardive dyskinesia and Tourette syndrome,'' said, Michael Hayden, MD, PhD, Teva's president of Global R&D and chief scientific officer.

''Teva has established itself as a global leader in CNS diseases, characterized by strong management and commercial execution," said Pratik Shah, Ph.D., president and CEO of Auspex.

"The transaction also marks a great outcome for Auspex shareholders and stakeholders as it not only validates our portfolio of drug candidates while delivering significant financial return, but it also puts our programs into the hands of a company that has the experience and commitment to deliver our pipeline of therapies to patients in need, he added.

With annual revenues of $20.3 billion, Teva is the world's largest generic medicines producer, having a portfolio of more than 1,000 molecules that produce a wide range of generic products in nearly every therapeutic area.