UPDATE: ImmuPharma Signs Up To $500 Million Deal With Cephalon
Tuesday November 25th, 2008 / 11h07
(Adds share price, executive and analyst comment) By Jason Douglas Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Biotechnology company ImmuPharma LLC (IMM.LN) Tuesday said it has signed a license agreement worth up to $500 million with U.S. specialty drug giant Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) for its experimental lupus treatment Lupuzor, sending its shares up 35%. ImmuPharma will receive a $15 million upfront payment and if a phase II study currently underway is successful it will enter a worldwide license agreement with Cephalon, which will then take over phase III development and marketing of the drug. Total payments due to ImmuPharma, assuming Lupuzor passes various clinical, regulatory and sales milestones, are $500 million. At 0934 GMT, shares in ImmuPharma were up 15 pence or 35% at 57.5 pence, outperforming a lower FTSE All Shares index, down 1.2%. Its shares are down 0.9% over the last 12 months. Cephalon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Baldino said Lupuzor will be the first specific medication for the debilitating auto-immune disease, which affects 1.5 million Americans. Teathers analyst Shawn Manning said there's a high level of need for lupus treatments and sales could reach as much as $6 billion within five years. He added the $15 million upfront payment will provide ImmuPharma with additional short- to mid-term funding. Panmure Gordon & Co. analyst Savvas Neophytou said the terms were much better than expected and said Cephalon, an S&P 500 company with a 600-plus sales force, is a good fit. Company Web site: www.immupharma.com -By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; jason.douglas@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=VNf1o8oJFnifzxvjBbgEew%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Les Bourses européennes ont clôturé en ordre dispersé vendredi mais sur une note globalement négative pour la troisième séance d'affilée, dans des échanges peu animés en l'absence...
Wall Street a clôturé en forte baisse jeudi, après la publication de chiffres de l'emploi pires que prévu et qui font douter du scénario d'une reprise rapide. La clôture a été...
La Bourse de Tokyo a fini en baisse de 0,61% vendredi, au lendemain de chiffres de l'emploi américain venus raviver les inquiétudes des investisseurs quant à l'état de l'économie...
Un consortium emmené par le britannique BP et comprenant le chinois CNPC a remporté le contrat d'exploitation du plus important champ pétrolifère d'Irak, a annoncé le ministre...
