Baxter International Snaps Up German Biopharma for $225 Million
March 4, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter International said it would buy privately held German biopharma SuppreMol for $225 million as a way to gain access to the company’s early-stage development portfolio of novel biologic immunoregulatory therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Based in Martinsried, Germany, SuppreMol has focused on developing treatments for autoimmune and allergic diseases, an area Baxter said will jibe nicely with its own portfolio.
“SuppreMol’s portfolio of novel investigational treatments complements and builds upon our leading and differentiated immunology portfolio, offering the opportunity to expand into new areas with significant market potential and unmet medical needs in autoimmune diseases,'' said Ludwig Hantson, president of Baxter BioScience, in a statement.
The buyout comes with SuppreMol’s lead candidate SM101, an investigational immunoregulatory treatment that has completed Phase IIa studies in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and systemic lupus erythematosus. Its initial Phase IIa data has shown a promising dose response in multiple endpoints among patients with SLE treated with either one of two different doses of SM101 for six months.
“Matching therapeutic innovation with market needs is challenging for biotech companies. Working with Baxter, a global immunology leader, is the ideal setting for SuppreMol's promising therapeutic projects to deliver on our most ambitious goal to treat important autoimmune diseases and severe allergies,'' said Klaus Schollmeier, CEO of SuppreMol, in a statement.
The buy is not the first deal Baxter has made recently, having gone on some smaller forays in recent months as it attempts to beef up its offerings.
Baxter gave kidney drug developer Rockwell Medical a big boost in the form of $45 million in graduated payments at the end of October, news that sent the smaller company’s stock price shooting up more than 17 percent.
That agreement gives Rockwell $20 million in cash, a $15 million investment in the company and another $10 million in potential milestone payments in exchange for Baxter’s exclusive distribution rights on its hemodialysis concentrate drugs.
Baxter also has the option to extend the agreement for two additional 5-year terms upon meeting certain sales targets, coupled with a $7.5 million payment related to the first extension.
"This long-term, strategic supply and distribution agreement enables Rockwell to expand and accelerate our hemodialysis concentrate business, while we continue to strategically build our drug pharma business in the U.S. and globally," said Robert Chioini, founder, chairman and chief executive of Rockwell, in a statement, at the time.
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