Oryzon S. A., a biotechnology company specialised in new biomarkers and therapeutic targets in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases, has acquired Crystax Pharmaceuticals S. L., a biopharmaceutical company specialised in the development of new therapeutic molecules for treating cancer. The acquisition will take place by a capital increase in Oryzon which will be subscribed by current Crystax shareholders through contribution of their shares. The value of the resulting company has been estimated at 55 million Euros. Crystax shareholders will have 5.7% of the Oryzon shares. The merger has the support of the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) which has authorised a loan of 3.3 million Euros to advance the development of anticancer drugs. The operation guarantees the employment of all Crystax R&D staff and consolidates the resulting new company as one of the largest Spanish groups working on the development of new drugs, with a total of 80 investigators.
Oryzon and Crystax have agreed to the merger and the creation of a new company which will become one of the reference biotechnology companies in Spain in the field of the development of new drugs for oncology and neurodegenerative diseases.
This merger is a first part of the process of consolidating Spanish biotechnology, a sector in an emerging and fragmented situation, and one step more in the program implemented by both companies last July to develop new molecules with high pharmacological activity in certain types of cancer and effective in some of the new pharmacological targets for neurodegenerative diseases developed by Oryzon.
Initially it was agreed that in a first 24 month period, heavy investment would take place to refine these molecules. However the initial synergy has been reinforced and, in view of the interest of the Crystax cancer program, the Oryzon board decided to present a friendly offer for merger through acquisition of Crystax.
According to the President of the Oryzon Board of Directors, Carlos Buesa, “we are very pleased with the merger and the synergy we will obtain to manage a highly complementary ‘pipeline’ centred on the same indications. With this merger Oryzon increases its commitment to have various of its molecules in clinical phase before 2012 as at the same time we will develop 6 projects with small molecules and the participation of 17 chemists and all our biological potential”.
In addition, Buesa did not hesitate to point out that “The scientific teams also have a complementary profile and this will enable us to maximise the generation of innovative molecules”, and that “Spanish biotechnology companies must gain in size to be competitive. With this merger we will become one of the three largest drug discovery companies in Spain”.
Oryzon successfully completed a large capital increase in early 2008, designating a large part to financing the purchase of a company to implement additional programs. This expansion was completed by additional financing from the ICF and CIDEM (Centre for Innovation and Business Development) to complement the funds necessary to give more impetus to research programs.
In the case of Crystax, the Company was in advanced negotiations to complete a new financing agreement, however, in the current economic context, the shareholders decided to support the joint project with Oryzon –as this company would provide more creation of value, greater economic solidity and more competitiveness to the company resulting from the merger of both companies.
The President of the Crystax Board of Directors, Christian Fernández stated that “we are sure that Oryzon is the best bet for the development of both companies. The evident synergy between teams and technologies, and the good harmony created with joint projects has made us clearly in favour of this option. It is obvious that the biotechnology industry in Spain must undergo a process of concentration to be able to take on projects of international scope”.
About Oryzon. Oryzon is specialised in the discovery of biomarkers for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, especially in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases. Since its creation in 2000 as a spin-off of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Barcelona, Oryzon (www.oryzon.com) has consolidated itself as the fastest growing biotechnology company in Spain and has been carrying out genomic research on various oncological and neurodegenerative diseases for the last five years.
Thanks to its powerful platform of DNA-chips and bioinformatics, it has discovered new therapeutic targets that imply innovative action mechanisms for the management of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. As part of its 2008-2012 Strategic Plan, Oryzon has strengthened its activities in the discovery of small molecules in both therapeutic fields, signed up a new Medical Chemistry Manager –Dr. Julio Castro, formerly from Almirall-, and began its own powerful chemical program in 2008.
Located in the Barcelona Science Park, another of the strategic pillars of the company is to establish alliances with partners of reference in the sector. It currently has a team of more than 60 highly qualified international scientists and, apart from developing its own R&D program, it collaborates with European and Spanish universities, research centres and hospitals. With the participation of Fondo de Capital Riesgo Najeti BRS, Grupo Ferrer, Laboratorios Ordesa and Grupo de Capital Riesgo Corporación San Bernat, in only 8 years it has become one of the fastest growing companies in the sector.
About Crystax. Created in 2002 as a spin-off of the UPC and CSIC, the corporate purpose of Crystax (www.crystax.com) is to develop innovative drugs by atomic structure based design. It uses advanced technologies, such as radiation synchrotron and proprietary know-how to discover new drugs that provide a clear competitive advantage in an innovative and efficient way. Currently, two of its more advanced programs have reached the in-vivo experimentation phase with the probability of entering the preclinical phase in 2010.
At the same time it has developed an innovative crystallographic platform called D2B2 which enables designing innovative pharmacological molecules that are more powerful than the molecules developed by the competition and based on the structure of the target proteins. Information about these structures is obtained by applying the latest advances in synchrotron technology, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies and the emerging technology known as Fragment Screening.
With an international research and development team comprised of 10 scientists, Crystax has received various awards for the quality and innovation of its business project, including “Emprendedor XXI”, sponsored by La Caixa, for the company with greatest potential growth in Catalonia; or the Prize awarded by the Empresa Nacional de Innovación S. A. (granted by Enisa) for its work in research.
