The tickle you feel that makes you want to cough could be caused by the same mechanism that results in chronic pain. Afferent Pharmaceuticals Inc. execs believe they have a drug to treat both.
Given the billion dollar potential of Gilead Sciences Inc.’s sofosbuvir, it’s not particularly surprising that other companies would try to get a piece of the drug’s sales, claiming their patents covered the hepatitis C (HCV) drug.
Although the market to treat high cholesterol and high triglycerides is crowded with drugs, with plenty more in the later stages of clinical development, Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc. execs said the firm has a shot to compete despite its late start. The secret weapon: a two-pronged drug using its SMART-linker technology that can be delivered orally.
When Perrigo Co. announced that it was purchasing Elan Corp. plc. for $8.6 billion last month, Perrigo's relocation to Ireland to take advantage of the country's 12.5 percent corporate tax rate was cited as one of the driving forces for the transaction. (See BioWorld Today, July 30, 2013.)
With 23 U.S. biotechs going public on U.S. exchanges so far this year, compared to just 11 initial public offerings (IPOs) all of last year, the IPO window is starting to look more like an IPO bubble.
A few years after Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. regained the rights to its selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) lasofoxifene from Pfizer Inc., the company has dusted off the osteoporosis drug and found new parties interested in moving the molecule forward.
The IPO window has turned into a sliding glass door with biotechs seizing the opportunity to tap the public markets. According to BioWorld Snapshots, 19 biotechs have hit the U.S. markets since the beginning of the year. And there are quite a few others building their books hoping to price in the coming weeks.
Last year wasn't kind to pharmaceutical companies; loss of patent protection and a weaker dollar resulted in declining drug sales for seven out of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies.
The frothy initial public offering (IPO) market is helping companies raise capital in the public market. According to data from BioWorld Snapshots, 18 IPOs of drug companies this year raised an aggregate of more than $1.3 billion. (See BioWorld Today, July 2, 2013.)
