Sanofi-Aventis has this morning revealed it has agreed to purchase privately-held TargeGen Inc. to add treatments for certain forms of leukemia and blood disorders.
Sanofi will pay $75 million as an upfront-payment to TargeGen, which is developing small molecule kinase inhibitors for the treatment of certain forms of leukaemia, lymphoma and other haematological malignancies and blood disorders.
Further milestone payments, principally based on the development of the San Diego-based firm’s lead product TG 101348, could take the value of the deal up to $560 million.
The purchase gives Sanofi an experimental treatment for myelofibrosis, a bone marrow disorder that disrupts the body’s production of blood cells, causing fatigue and an enlargement of the spleen. TG 101348 is a potent inhibitor of Janus kinase-2, an oral agent being developed for the treatment of patients with myeloproliferative diseases including myelofibrosis. The compound has completed a Phase I/II trial in patients with MF and additional studies are planned to start in the second half of 2010.
Besides MF, Sanofi says that TG 101348 could be effective in a variety of other haematological malignancies, such as polycythemia vera, a blood disorder in which the bone marrow produces too many red blood cells. Currently, there are no approved or adequately effective therapies to treat these diseases called myeloproliferative neoplasms that affect around 400,000 patients in the USA and Europe.
“The acquisition of TargeGen represents a further significant step to increase our engagement in the field of hematological malignancies,” Marc Cluzel, Sanofi’s executive vice president of R&D, said in the statement.
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek
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