Bay Area's Alexza Pharma Sold in $35 Million Deal
May 10, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Spain-based Grupo Ferrer Internacional, S.A. and its subsidiary Ferrer Pharma struck a deal to acquire California-based Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $35 million, completing a plan that has been in the works since February.
Ferrer will acquire Alexza for $0.90 per share in cash and will also provide Alexza stockholders with contingent value rights to receive cash payments in four payment categories if specified milestones are achieved following the closing, the companies jointly announced this morning.
Ferrer’s acquisition of Alexza is expected to re-energize Alexza’s Staccato-based product pipeline, Thomas King, president and chief executive officer of Alexza, said in a statement. Alexza is developing treatments for the central nervous system. The Staccato pipeline includes drug candidates AZ-002 (Staccato alprazolam) for the management of epilepsy in patients with acute repetitive seizures and AZ-007 (Staccato zaleplon) for the treatment of patients with middle of the night insomnia. Alexza does have an approved product, Adasuve, an inhalant used for the treatment of agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder in adults.
After Alexza reported a fourth quarter loss in March, there were some questions as to whether or not Alexza would be able to keep its doors open. In its conference call in March, King said, “Revenue in 2015 consists of three components. One, product sales from the units of Adasuve sold to Teva and Ferrer. Two, the amortization of the upfront payments received from Ferrer. And three, royalty revenue from Teva for the Adasuve sales in the United States.”
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016. The companies said the offer represents a 210 percent premium to Alexza's closing share price on Feb. 26, 2016 and a 67 percent premium to the closing price on May 9, 2016.
"We are pleased that Alexza, the company that created and developed Adasuve and the Staccato technology, will be part of Ferrer and we look forward to working with our new Alexza colleagues to continue creating significant value for patients worldwide. We firmly believe that the Staccato technology will change the lives of patients with severe mental and neurological disorders. At the same time it will help healthcare professionals to improve their management in the increasingly digitalized and personalized healthcare context," Jordi Ramentol, CEO of Ferrer, said in a statement.
"Over the past four years, we have come to appreciate their professionalism, passion, dedication and commitment to Alexza's technologies, products and people. With this combination, we feel that Alexza's products will be well positioned for long-term success in serving important patient needs,” King said.