The US-based biotechnology company Biogen Inc on May 3, 2016 announced that it intends to spin off its hemophilia business as an independent, publicly traded company. The strategic goal of this transaction is to create two focused companies dedicated to driving current and future value in their respective therapeutic areas of expertise.
“We expect that the new company will be a leader in discovering, developing, and commercialising innovative therapies for hemophilia, built on remarkable science and a deep understanding of how to continually improve treatment for patients. Our expanding hemophilia business continues to perform very well. We believe that the best way to realize the full potential of this growing and vital business is to enable it to operate independently with a management team dedicated to providing therapies to people living with hemophilia,” said George Scangos, chief executive officer, Biogen.
The new company, to be named at a later date, will focus on the discovery and development of therapies for the treatment of hemophilia, with existing marketed products to include Eloctate and Alprolix, indicated for the treatment of hemophilia A and B, respectively. The new company is expected to continue to develop and commercialise Eloctate and Alprolix under Biogen’s existing collaboration agreement with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB. Eloctate and Alprolix generated combined revenues of $ 640 million during the twelve-month period ended March 31, 2016.
The new company plans to bring longer acting therapies utilising the XTEN technology into clinical development in the first half of 2017 and to accelerate the development of bispecific antibodies and hemophilia-related gene therapy programs. The new company also plans to conduct additional studies to confirm early data that suggest Eloctate’s potential to rapidly induce immune tolerance in hemophilia patients who develop inhibitors.
“We expect that the new company will be a leader in discovering, developing, and commercialising innovative therapies for hemophilia, built on remarkable science and a deep understanding of how to continually improve treatment for patients. Our expanding hemophilia business continues to perform very well. We believe that the best way to realize the full potential of this growing and vital business is to enable it to operate independently with a management team dedicated to providing therapies to people living with hemophilia,” said George Scangos, chief executive officer, Biogen.
The new company, to be named at a later date, will focus on the discovery and development of therapies for the treatment of hemophilia, with existing marketed products to include Eloctate and Alprolix, indicated for the treatment of hemophilia A and B, respectively. The new company is expected to continue to develop and commercialise Eloctate and Alprolix under Biogen’s existing collaboration agreement with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB. Eloctate and Alprolix generated combined revenues of $ 640 million during the twelve-month period ended March 31, 2016.
The new company plans to bring longer acting therapies utilising the XTEN technology into clinical development in the first half of 2017 and to accelerate the development of bispecific antibodies and hemophilia-related gene therapy programs. The new company also plans to conduct additional studies to confirm early data that suggest Eloctate’s potential to rapidly induce immune tolerance in hemophilia patients who develop inhibitors.