InterMune to divest Actimmune for $55 million; to focus on Esbriet

California, USA-based biotech firm InterMune (Nasdaq: ITMN) says that it has reached a definitive agreement with privately-held Vidara Therapeutics International, which has operations in Ireland and the USA, to sell its rights to Actimmune (interferon gamma-1b) in a cash transaction valued at $55 million plus a two-year royalty stream.

Dan Welch, chairman, chief executive and president of InterMune, commented: "Several years ago, we stopped investigating new uses for Actimmune and it became a tactical financial asset for InterMune. The divesture of Actimmune will provide additional capital for InterMune to continue to focus on and invest in the registration and commercialization of Esbriet (pirfenidone) in Europe and elsewhere and to continue to advance our R&D programs. The cash infusion from this transaction combined with $377.2 million of existing cash and cash equivalents at the end of first quarter 2012 will provide additional financial resources to execute our Vision 2015 strategic plan."

Esbriet was approved in Europe in March 2011 for the treatment of mild-to-moderate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive and fatal lung disease, and is in a Phase III trial after the US Food and Drug Administration rejected it in May 2010. Esbriet could become a $4 million-a-year drug at its peak, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Ritu Baral. The drug, which saw its first launch in Germany last year (The Pharma Letter September 13, 2011), accounted for $8.9 million of Intermune’s first-quarter 2012 revenues.