Rare-disease drug maker Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. said last week it has met all conditions in an $855 million deal to acquire Swedish biopharma Wilson Therapeutics.
The acquisition received regulatory approval and was accepted by shareholders representing 97.7 percent of the Stockholm-based company, Alexion said Friday.
The New Haven biotech said it will extend the acceptance period until June 8, however, to give the remaining shareholders more time to accept the offer.
Wilson Therapeutics has developed a drug to treat Wilson Disease, a rare inherited disorder that prevents the body from eliminating copper properly, causing it to build up in the brain, liver and other organs.
The drug, WTX101, is in late-stage clinical trials and has been granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration Fast Track status, a designation which speeds the approval process.
Alexion CEO Ludwig Hantson said the drug has the potential to become the standard of care for the disease.
In other news, Branford-based Thetis Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it has won a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Health to boost development of its drug to treat ulcerative colitis.
Thetis said the drug, TP-252, is designed to be used with another drug to reduce the risk of relapse from the chronic, inflammatory bowel disease, which affects 800,000 people in the U.S. and 5 million worldwide.
The Fast-Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant follows an early study that found a natural lipid delivered by the drug could lower relapse rates and signs of inflammation in patients.
“There is a high, unmet medical need for safe, oral therapies that can be used with first-line therapy to help patients maintain remission, thereby reducing the need for aggressive immunosuppressive agents,” Thetis’ Senior Medical Director Dr. Brian E. Harvey said in a statement.
Thetis has received two Fast-Track SBIR grants totaling $4 million in the last nine months to advance its inflammatory bowel disease drug pipeline.
Meanwhile, New Haven specialty cancer diagnostics company Precipio Inc. said last week it has struck a deal with an Italian distributor to sell its products in Europe.
Biotechnology products distributor Euroclone Diagnostic, based in Milan, will sell Precipio’s ICE COLD-PCR (ICP) DNA enrichment products for use with liquid biopsies, the company said.
The agreement is exclusive in Italy and non-exclusive in the rest of Europe, Precipio said. Terms were not disclosed.
Precipio, which specializes in technology to reduce disease misdiagnosis, bills its liquid biopsy as a more accurate, less invasive way to diagnose cancer.
Precipio Chief Commercial Officer Stephen Miller said the company will use Italy as a “staging area” for rapid expansion into other markets, such as the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Scandinavia.
Natalie Missakian can be reached at news@newhavenbiz.com
