Booming Jazz Pharma Inks Huge Lease in Philadelphia to Accomodate Growth

July 7, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

PHILADELPHIA -- Irish company Jazz Pharmaceuticals is continuing to expand its Pennsylvania footprint to support growth in research and development and its commercial operations.

Jazz signed a lease for a 46,000-square-foot property at the Commerce Square office complex in Philadelphia. The new space is 16,000 square feet larger than two current facilities the company occupies in the area. Jazz plans to move into the new space by May 2019, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday. Jazz has seen strong growth in the Philadelphia area and the extra space was needed to accommodate that, company spokesperson Jacqueline Kirby told the Inquirer.

Jazz Pharma has been on a roll over the past several months. In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the company’s New Drug Application for Vyxeos (cytarabine and daunorubicin) liposome injection, an investigational treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The drug, formerly known as CPX-351, was granted priority review, which will accelerate the timing of an FDA review. That’s good news for Jazz after the company acquired Vyxeos in a $1.5 billion deal for New Jersey-based Celator Pharmaceuticals . At the time of the deal Bruce Cozadd, chairman and chief executive officer of Jazz, said Vyxeos was a promising generator of revenue for the company. During its Phase III trial, Vyxeos demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in overall survival for older patients with previously untreated high-risk (secondary) AML—which is part of what attracted Jazz to Celator. AML is the most common form of leukemia in adults, with more than 20,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the United States.

In April, the company reached a settlement agreement with London-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC over patent questions over Jazz’s drug, Xyrem. The case has been languishing in U.S. courts since 2010. Hikma was seeking to market a generic version of Xyrem that it received through the acquisition of Roxane Laboratories, Inc. The settlement with Hikma gives Jazz six years of breathing room before Hikma can begin marketing its authorized generic version in the United States—which means that Jazz will receive some royalties for those sales. Xyrem is indicated for the treatment of cataplexy in narcolepsy and for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in narcolepsy. In 2016, Xyrem was responsible for the lion’s share of Jazz revenue stream, bringing in about $1.1 billion.

Also in April, Jazz announced positive results from its Phase III study of the experimental drug JZP-110 in adult patients with excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy. Based on the positive efficacy results, Jazz said it will submit a New Drug Application with the FDA in late 2017. The company will seek regulatory approval for indications in obstructive sleep apnea and narcolepsy, it indicated in an April statement.

In March of this year Jazz struck a deal with Japan-based Nippon Shinyaku, Co., Ltd. for the marketing of Defitelio, a treatment for hepatic veno-occlusive disease, and Vyxeos in Japan. Nippon Shinyaku will receive exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the two drugs in Japan in return for an undisclosed payment to Jazz.

of Jazz are currently trading at $154.13 as of 11:10 a.m.