Stoughton, Mass.-based Collegium Pharmaceutical is expanding its pain-treating portfolio with a $604 million buyout of Raleigh’s BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI).
Stoughton, Mass.-based Collegium Pharmaceutical is expanding its pain-treating portfolio with a $604 million buyout of Raleigh’s BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI).
Collegium already has two opioid drugs on the market—an extended-release oxycodone formulation branded Xtampza and another narcotic with regular and ER formulations for short-term pain relief.
With its cash purchase at $5.60 a share, Collegium will add BDSI’s biggest driver pain med. Belbuca is a narcotic aimed at long-term, around-the-clock treatment when other pain treatments are not well tolerated or can’t do the job. Last year’s sales were anticipated to fall within the $147–148 million range. The drug is expected to be the second growth driver for the company’s portfolio.
The BDSI acquisition also comes with a complimentary drug for the company’s pain treatment, a med branded as Symproic that is prescribed to treat opioid-induced constipation.
A migraine drug approved in May 2020 and still in its early launch phase is included in the deal, carving a small space in another market for the pain drug maker—neurology. The drug Elyxyb was acquired from Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories last fall.
Collegium’s CEO Joe Ciaffoni is expecting strong earnings from the acquisition, saying, “The BDSI portfolio expands and enhances Collegium’s differentiated pain offerings and establishes a foothold in neurology, a strategic market adjacency. Importantly, we expect this acquisition will be immediately and highly accretive by expanding our revenue scale and generating significant synergies.”
Those identified “synergies” are expected to result in $75 million savings within 12 months. The anticipated cuts were not disclosed.
Collegium ended 2021 with a $2.75 million settlement deal for the devastating opioid crisis based on the company’s sales of Xtampza. As with most companies involved in these settlements, the company does not admit any wrongdoing but is ready to be done with the lengthy legal woes. The deal would garner a “dismissal with prejudice” of all pending cases against them, with the law firm representing 27 different cities and counties related to the opioid crisis.
Collegium followed the example of other opioid manufacturers. A few months prior, generics giant Teva Pharmaceuticals reached a heftier $15 million agreement with the state of Louisiana to settle claims over its marketing of products that contributed to the opioid addiction epidemic that has swept the nation. Fifteen million will be paid by Teva for 18 years, while $3 million goes to donating medications that aid in addiction recovery.
Last summer, three major drug companies made a joint deal to pay $26 billion collectively in their settlement to deliver relief to communities affected by the opioid crisis.
