pSivida buys US drug delivery firm for €87m
$104 million (€87m) to buy Control Delivery Systems of the US,
allowing it tap into the biotechnology hub around Boston on the US
east coast.
pSivida has already attracted considerable attention of late with its BioSilicon drug delivery platform, but the addition of CDS brings two commercialised products, another candidate in late-stage clinical testing and a raft of other delivery technologies, as well as two commercial partnerships with eyecare companies Bausch & Lomb and Alimera Sciences.
pSivida said it would fund the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, by issuing shares to CDS stockholders, giving them about 40 percent of the combined company.
The technologies brought together by the merger include: CDS' AEON system, a polymer-based implant with controlled delivery over months to years, which is already employed in two marketed products; CODRUG, a non-linear drug delivery system, with controlled delivery over hours to weeks, which is polymer-free, bio-erodible and in early clinical studies; and pSivida's own BioSilicon, a porous nanostructure that effectively stores an active compound in tiny pockets that release minute amounts of drug as the silicon dissolves.
In partnership with B&L, CDS sells an implantable drug called Vitrasert (ganciclovir) for cytomegalovirus retinitis, an opportunistic viral infection that affects people with compromised immune systems. And the two companies launched another implantable product - Retisert (fluocinolone acetonide) - to treat an inflammatory disease of the eye known as uveitis - in the summer.
Meanwhile, just yesterday, CDS and Alimera announced that they had moved Medidur (fluocinolone acetonide), a candidate product to treat diabetic macular oedema, into Phase III testing. This will lead the combined company's development pipeline, followed by pSivida's Brachysil (32-phosphorus BioSilicon) for liver and pancreatic cancer, both in Phase II trials.
Gavin Rezos, managing director of pSivida, said: "The diversified product portfolio and development capabilities of the combined company present value creating opportunities, reducing our overall risk profile whilst generating significant current and near term revenues."
