Bay Area's XenoPort Rumored to Be Up for Sale
January 22, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Santa Clara, Calif.-based XenoPort Inc. , is rumored to be up for sale, according to Reuters. Unidentified inside sources told Reuters that the biotech company, which focuses mostly on therapies for restless leg syndrome, is working with an investment bank and has made contact with potential buyers.
In October 2015, the company announced that it was restructuring to maximize its HORIZANT (gabapentin encarbil) drug for restless leg syndrome. In addition, it was cutting about 25 jobs, and its chief executive officer and director, Ronald Barrett, was retiring immediately. Barrett was being replaced by Vincent Angotti, who had previously acted as executive vice president and chief operating officer.
A month earlier, on Sept. 15, XenoPort had announced positive results in its Phase II clinical trial of XP23820 for psoriasis. It met its primary endpoint in both the 800 mg daily dosage and 400 mg twice daily doses, showing statistically significant improvement.
Despite the positive results, the drug also showed significant gastrointestinal-related side effects which caused almost a third of its 200 subjects to drop out of the study. Side effects included nausea, vomiting and stomach pain. Eric Schmidt, an analyst with Cowen & Co., told Reuters at the time, “XenoPort should stop spending limited resources on a drug that, while active, appears to be inferior to the standard of care in psoriasis.”
The job cuts were related to the termination of the XP23820 program for plaque psoriasis. In July, XenoPort had expanded its sales force related to HORIZANT.
In November, the company released its third-quarter financial statements. Net product sales for HORIZANT had doubled to $11 million for the third quarter compared to $5.6 million for the same quarter in 2014. Total third-quarter revenues were $11.4 million, down from $31.1 million in the same period of 2014. The big change was primarily related to a licensing deal in 2014 for $25 million with Indivior PLC.
“We continue to see strong sales performance, which gives us confidence that our strategy for HORIZANT revenue growth is succeeding thus far,” Angotti said in a statement at the time. “Our sales in the quarter were primarily achieved by approximately 70 NeuroHealth Specialists that have been in the field since at least October 2014. Our 50 new Specialists, who joined our team in July, are highly motivated and showing early signs of productivity. We believe that the 120 territories we now cover, when fully productive, will allow us to address approximately 25 percent of the total market opportunity for the currently-approved indications for HORIZANT.”
XenoPort has been mixed, although the overall trends appears to be slightly downward. Shares traded on March 19, 2015 for $8.46, dropped to $5.61 on May 13, and rallied to $7.72 on Aug. 5. Shares then dropped back to $3.45 on Sept. 29, rose again on Nov. 15 to $6.73, then drifted slightly downward, although the last several days have shown a slight increase. Shares are currently trading for $4.79.