December 17, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Editor
The deals continued to churn out Wednesday, after Emergent BioSolutions Inc said it would acquire Evolva Holding SA’s anti-bacterial series in a bid to get a slice of the lucrative U.S. government biodefense market, a sector which spends billions every year on new technologies to combat bioterrorism.
Under the terms of the deal announced Wednesday, Emergent will pay around $70.5 million for Evolva’s EV-035 series, with an eye on the gem of the bunch, broad-spectrum antibiotic GC-072, which is already being developed with US government biodefense funding.
So far, GC-072 has shown promise at fighting a broad range of pathogens, in both in vitro and in vivo studies, and specifically against bio-threat agent Burkholderia pseudomallei. The preclinical development of GC-072 has been funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and both companies said they will coordinate with the DTRA on the transfer of the funding contract to Emergent.
“We are very pleased to have found a good home for GC-072. Emergent has extensive experience partnering with the U.S. government through its development, manufacture, and delivery of medical countermeasures, and is perfectly placed to make the EV-035 series a success,” said Neil Goldsmith, CEO of Evolva, in a statement. “This is financially an attractive deal for Evolva, both in the short term and the longer term.”
Under the terms of the deal, Evolva will receive an upfront payment of $1.5 million and an additional $4 million after the U.S. government approves transfer of the GC-072 contract to Emergent. It will then receive development milestone payments up to $65 million, with tiered royalties up to a maximum of 10 percent on product net sales generated from the EV-035 program.
“Emergent’s acquisition of the EV-035 series of broad spectrum antibiotics further aligns the company with the U.S. government’s strategic objective of combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which the Administration considers a national security priority that requires continued development funding,” said Adam Havey, executive vice president and president of the biodefense division of Emergent BioSolutions.
