Emergent BioSolutions to buy Narcan-maker Adapt Pharma

(Reuters) - Emergent BioSolutions Inc said on Tuesday it would buy privately held Adapt Pharma, beefing up its portfolio with the only FDA approved needle-free emergency opioid overdose treatment often carried by police officers and medical teams.

The U.S. opioid addiction crisis claimed over 70,000 lives last year, according to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, with President Donald Trump in March recommending death penalty for drug dealers.

Trump also introduced an Adapt Pharma executive, Mike Kelly, during the event in New Hampshire and said he wanted to give first responders access to life-saving drugs that can reverse overdoses.

Narcan contains the chemical naloxone hydrochloride and was approved as a nasal spray in 2015. The U.S. Surgeon General released a public health advisory earlier this year urging more Americans to carry naloxone.

 

Tuesday's deal comprises an upfront cash-and-stock payment of $635 million and up to $100 million in cash linked to sales-based milestones through 2022, Emergent said.

The company will also gain access to Adapt's pipeline of treatments to address opioid overdose, as well as about 50 employees in the United States, Canada and Ireland.

The deal fits in with Emergent's strategy of developing treatments for public health threats and the company is currently developing a vaccine for bat-borne Nipah virus.

Emergent is looking to achieve or exceed its $1 billion in revenue goal in 2020 and as part of the plan recently acquired speciality vaccines company PaxVax.

(Reporting by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)