Cipla to sell entire 16.7% stake in US-based Chase Pharmaceuticals to Allergan Plc
24 Nov 2016
Indian drug maker Cipla Ltd today struck a deal to sell its entire 16.7-per cent stake in US-based Chase Pharmaceuticals to Botox maker Allergan Plc.
Under the financial terms of the deal, Allergan will make an upfront payment of $125 million and additional $875 million based on potential regulatory and sales milestone payments related to Chase's lead compound, CPC-201, being developed to treat Alzheimer's disease and certain backup compounds.
Chandru Chawla, head corporate strategy and Cipla new ventures said, "Cipla Group is proud to have made a meaningful contribution in advancing an Alzheimer's drug to an advanced stage of development where the product has now successfully concluded Phase 2 study. We believe that Chase's pipeline will be successful at Allergan, given their strength as a leading CNS commercial franchise."
In 2014, Cipla initially acquired a 14.6-per cent stake in Chase Pharmaceuticals for $1.5 million (See: Cipla buys 14.6% stake in Chase Pharma to support Alzheimer treatment), and earlier this year acquired an additional 2.1 per cent for $3.62 million.
The investment was part of the $21-million two-phase financing to support Phase 2a and Phase 2b clinical trials for Chase's lead drug CPC 201. The original venture funding for Chase was provided by the Brain Trust Accelerator Fund in 2010.
The investment, carried out through Cipla's UK unit Cipla New Ventures, was for the Series B round of financing as part of a syndicate, which also consisted of Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and New Rhein Healthcare LLC.
Chase Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of improved treatments for Alzheimer's disease.
The Washington-based company recently completed an End of Phase 2 meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Based on feedback from the FDA, Allergan intends to advance CPC-201 into a single Phase 3 registration study in 2017.
