Global Briefs: UCB, BioMarin & Emergent
A roundup of news from UCB, BioMarin and Emergent BioSolutions. Highlights below.
M&A News
* UCB To Divest Neurology & Allergy Business in China for $680 M
General
* BioMarin Plans to Cut 225 as Part of Restructuring
* Emergent’s Smallpox Vaccine Gets FDA OK for Mpox
M&A News
UCB To Divest Neurology & Allergy Business in China for $680 M
UCB has announced the sale, divestment, and license of UCB’s mature business (neurology and allergy) in China, to CBC Group, a healthcare asset-management group, and Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based investment company, for $680 million.
The products being divested include the following: Keppra (levetiracetam), an anti-seizure drug; Vimpat (lacosamide), an anti-seizure drug for children; Neupro (Rotigotine), a Parkinson’s disease drug; Zyrtec (cetirizine), an allergy drug; Xyzal (levocetirizine), a drug treating hay fever and hives. Combined net sales for these medicines in China for 2023 were EUR 131 million ($146 million). The transaction also includes UCB’s manufacturing site in Zhuhai, China.
The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions, including required antitrust clearance(s) and other customary conditions, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Source: UCB
General
BioMarin Plans to Cut 225 as Part of Restructuring
BioMarin Pharmaceutical, a Dublin, Ireland-based bio/pharmaceutical company, has announced that it will reduce its global workforce by approximately 225 employees. The company decided to reduce its workforce in connection with organizational redesign efforts as well as its updated strategy for its gene-therapy product, Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec-rvox), and its decision to discontinue development of BMN 293, a gene therapy for treating certain cardiovascular diseases, as previously announced by BioMarin on August 5, 2024.
Under its restructuring plan, the company says it will focus commercial operations on three markets, the US, Germany, and Italy, where Roctavian is approved and reimbursed as a treatment for treating severe hemophilia A.
The company estimates that it will incur aggregate pre-tax charges representing one-time cash expenditures for severance and other employee termination benefits of approximately $30 million to $35 million. Impacted employees were notified by August 28, 2024, and workforce reductions are expected to be substantially completed by the end of 2024.
Source: BioMarin Pharmaceutical
Emergent’s Smallpox Vaccine Gets FDA OK for Mpox
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Emergent BioSolutions approval for the company’s supplemental biologics license application to expand the indication for the company’s Acam2000, a smallpox vaccine, to include prevention of mpox disease in individuals determined to be at high risk for mpox infection.
Source: Emergent BioSolutions
