Osteoporosis drug developer Radius Health braves chilly IPO market

Posted under BA058, Biotech IPO, Biotech Venture Capital, Blog, Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Ipsen, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, osteoporosis, Pharmaceuticals, Radius Health, Startups, Universities, Verastem, Videos by John Carroll

After burning through more than $122 million, the late-stage osteoporosis drug developer Radius Health is filing to go public in the hope of raising up to $86 million. Radius is betting that it can whet the appetite of investors with the prospects for its pivotal trial for BA058. But over the past three years investors have been quick to pass on such offerings, put off by the heavy risk of failure that dogs every drug program.

Radius Health in-licensed BA058 from Ipsen and has been studying the treatment's ability to build bones in osteoporosis patients. As FierceBiotech noted in December, when the Cambridge, MA-based biotech drew down another tranche of its last $91 million venture round, Radius believes that it can significantly improve on current treatments, which are designed to slow bone loss and reduce pain in patients. Radius is also partnered with Eisai on a midstage treatment for hot flashes without the side effects associated with hormone therapy.

Radius, which is helmed by former Genzyme CFO Michael Wyzga, plans to list on Nasdaq under the RDUS symbol. The biotech did not list the number of shares it plans to offer or a price range.

Biotech IPOs have generally received rough handling on Wall Street. With the help of its backers, Christoph Westphal pulled off a successful initial offering for Verastem ($VSTM) recently. But Cempra's experience last week is more common. The company had to cut its share price in half and boost the number of shares sold to raise $50 million. Merrimack, a Boston biotech with five programs, recently pulled its IPO, citing market conditions.

A successful IPO here would be a coup for Radius' investors: MPM Capital, BB Biotech Ventures, MPM Bio IV NVS Strategic Fund, The Wellcome Trust, HealthCare Ventures and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.

- here's the S-1 form on file at the SEC
- read the story from the Boston Business Journal

Special Report: The 10 biotech IPOs of 2011

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Ipsen hands back Parkinson’s drug rights to Santhera

Posted under Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Ipsen, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Parkinson's, Pharmaceuticals, Santhera, Startups, Universities, Videos by Ryan McBride

French drugmaker Ipsen ($IPN) has a game plan for developing new drugs, and Santhera's ($SANN) Parkinson's disease treatment fipamezole didn't make the cut. Switzerland-based Santhera said that it has regained worldwide rights to the experimental drug from Ipsen and is now looking for a new partner for the program, which is set to enter late-stage studies for treating dyskinesia in Parkinson's patients, Reuters reported. In return for handing back rights to the drug to Santhera for markets outside North America and Japan, Ipsen is expected to get a cut of potential milestones and royalties related to fipamezole. Article

UPDATED: Ipsen-backed Inspiration Biopharma leaving California for Boston area

Posted under Blog, Boston, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, hemophilia, Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Ipsen, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by Ryan McBride

Score one for the Boston-area biotech scene. With a newly appointed chief executive from Genzyme, Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals is relocating from Laguna Niguel, CA, to the biotech-rich Kendall Square section of Cambridge, MA. And the move comes amid the company's planned transformation from a development-stage outfit to a commercial provider of bleeding-disorder drugs.

"We're building a fully integrated company,'' Inspiration CEO John Butler, who was previously president of the rare genetic disease unit of Cambridge-based Genzyme, said in an interview with The Boston Globe. "Ultimately, we're a bricks-and-mortar company as of Jan. 1. Going forward, Cambridge is our address. We expect to have two products on the market in the second half of 2013.''

Ipsen's partnership with Inspiration, which is 40% owned by the French biotech, played a role in the relocation to Massachusetts as well, according to the Globe's article. Inspiration recently filed for approval of its experimental factor IX product for hemophilia B patients in Europe, where Ipsen has rights to market the drug. The company is also planning an FDA app for approval of the drug early next year. Ipsen has set up a bioprocessing operation in Massachusetts where the treatment will be made, and the Paris-based biotech has an option to acquire Inspiration which is tied to whether the developer'' two lead bleeding-disorder drugs pan out, the Globe reported.

Inspiration's move to Massachusetts, of course, won't really improve its chances of getting market green lights for its hemophilia products. Yet there's no shortage of biotech talent walking the streets of Kendall Square, where Novartis ($NVS), Biogen Idec ($BIIB), Pfizer ($PFE) and others are building up their existing hubs and adding to their teams of scientists and business groups. And Ipsen recently revealed plans to plow $45 million into and add 100 workers to its R&D operation in Milford, MA. Inspiration is unlikely to have problems beefing up its own work force as it readies for potential commercial releases of its products.

- here's the company's release
- get more in the Globe article

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Ipsen plans new hires, $45M R&D expansion as it relocates U.S. HQ

Posted under Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, hemophilia, Ipsen, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Paris-based Ipsen is reorganizing its U.S. operations, shifting its American headquarters  from California to New Jersey, hiring 100 employees and investing $45 million in an upgrade of its R&D facilities in Milford, MA. The moves follow Ipsen's $663 million deal to buy Tercica, an endocrine health biopharma company, in Brisbane, CA back in 2008. Now that operation is being renamed Ipsen as part of the reorganization and expansion in the U.S.

Ipsen already has a big presence in Milford, where its peptide and toxin R&D work, as well as manufacturing, is handled. One of its two buildings on the site will be renovated while a third building goes up to expand their work there. Its R&D staff is working on the hemophilia treatment OBI-1, which Ipsen describes as "a breakthrough B-domain depleted, recombinant porcine factor VIII in late stage development with Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals." Researchers are now recruiting patients for two late-stage trials.

The move from California to New Jersey makes a lot of sense, says Sean McKercher, the president of Ipsen North America. Ipsen decided to undertake a geographic review of its operations, and determined that it wanted to focus on the U.S., among other regions. "The U.S." McKercher tells FierceBiotech, "is an emerging market for us." And New Jersey is a lot closer to the Paris hub, making it easier to coordinate activates with closer time zones.

Ipsen currently sells a pair of products in the U.S. The expansion in New Jersey will focus on adding sales positions as well as new members for the executive team, but McKercher emphasized that its sales force in the field will not be affected at all by the move. He also expects to work closely with Ipsen's business development team on any U.S. pacts, which are likely to be in either the neurology or endocrinology arenas.

"We are confident that investing $45 million in this unique site, in such close proximity to the impressive concentration of scientific skills and talent in Massachusetts, will enable Ipsen to expand its bio-therapeutic technological platforms and pipeline," said Cynthia Sylvestre, who runs the Milford operation.

- here's the Ipsen release

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