BioMarin to acquire LEAD Therapeutics for $18 million plus $68 million more on milestone

California, USA-based BioMarin Pharmaceutical has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire LEAD Therapeutics, a small private drug discovery and early stage development company with key compound LT-673, an orally available poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor for the treatment of patients with rare, genetically defined cancers.

Under the terms of the deal, BioMarin will pay LEAD' stockholders $18 million upfront and an additional $11 million upon acceptance of the Investigational New Drug filing (expected by the end of 2010), and up to $68 million for development and launch milestones for LT-673. As a result of this acquisition, BioMarin expects to incur approximately $11.0 to $13.0 million in operating expenses and acquisition related charges in 2010. Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to be completed by mid-February 2010.

"The acquisition of LEAD Therapeutics will augment our development pipeline of orphan therapeutics. With LT-673 we see a tremendous opportunity to apply our expertise in developing therapeutics for genetic diseases to the field of oncology by targeting cancers with defined genetic mutations that make them susceptible to treatment with agents such as LT-673. There are attractive opportunities to treat rare cancers with PARP-sensitive mutations, as a single agent and in combination with other DNA damaging agents, and to improve on PARP inhibitors currently in development for more common tumor types," said Jean-Jacques Bienaime, chief executive of BioMarin.