Sandoz Acquires Genetic Therapy For $295 Million

Swiss pharmaceutical company Sandoz plans to acquire all the 12,593,352 common shares it does not already own in US biotechnology firm Genetic Therapy Inc, for $21 per share or a total of around $295 million. Sandoz's existing holding in GTI is 3.6%, for which it paid $10 million in 1991 as part of a strategic alliance agreement.

Sandoz has entered into what it says are irreversible stock option agreements with certain GTI shareholders covering 32% of the company's outstanding stock, and GTI's board has approved the merger.

To date, the Sandoz-GTI alliance has focused on the clinical application of somatic gene therapy, with the most advanced project, GLI 328, currently in Phase I/II clinical trials in the USA to treat glioblastoma, a lethal form of brain cancer. European clinical testing is presently being initiated. A second project with GTI in the cancer field is now in the preclinical phase, and in March this year a broad US patent, under which GTI is exclusively licensed, was granted, covering ex vivo gene therapy treatments.