Dive Brief:
- Regenerative medicine company Cytori Therapeutics has snagged access to nanoparticle technology and broadened its pipeline by inking a deal to acquire oncology company Azaya Therapeutics.
- In a deal that could be worth around $165 million, Cytori has pledged up to $16.25 million in milestone payments, $100 million in royalties and $50 million in licensing fees.
- The close of the deal is expected no later than Feb. 28, at which point Cytori will issue $2 million of its own common stock and pay off the same amount of Azaya's trade payables. Also at that point, Cytori will obtain a five-year lease for Azaya's nanoparticle manufacturing facility.
Dive Insight:
The potential to regenerate or replace tissue offers exciting opportunities for human health, particularly in an aging population. Cytori Therapeutics' pipeline of regenerative therapies is based on a variety of cells taken from patients' own fat tissue. The company harvests and processes those cells, known as adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs), on site, making them treatment-ready in one day.
Cytori's lead projects are HABEO, which is in Phase 3 for scleroderma-related hand dysfunction, and ACT-OA, which has completed a Phase 2a/2b trial in patients with knee osteoarthritis. The HABEO Phase 3 STAR readout is expected mid-2017.
"Azaya's technology and intellectual property present an exciting opportunity to marry Cytori’s cell therapy technology, which is currently in late-stage clinical trials, to a clinically proven and patented off-the-shelf pharmaceutical delivery system directly applicable to regenerative medicine," Cytori's CEO Marc Hedrick said in a Jan. 19 statement.
The deal with Azaya Therapeutics not only provides Cytori a delivery system, but also gives it access to two clinical-stage oncology compounds. ATI-0918, a generic form of liposomal doxorubicin, has completed its bioequivalence studies with Johnson & Johnson's Doxil, the European reference product, and according to Cytori, may reach the European market in 2019 following submission in early 2018. ATI-1123, a novel formulation of liposomal docetaxel, is in Phase 1 testing.
Regenerative medicine has attracted a big dose of M&A activity as of late. Allergan, which went on a deal spree in 2016, picked up LifeCell in a $2.9 billion acquisition giving the specialty pharma access to a fast-growing area. And U.K. drug and device company Mallinckrodt completed its acquisition of Stratatech, gaining access to StrataGraft, a biologic treatment for severe burns in Phase 3 testing.