Cephalon exercises option to acquire Ception Therapeutics for $250 million, after successful Cinquil trial

Pennsylvania, USA-based Cephalon, says that it has exercised its option to acquire Ception Therapeutics, following receipt of positive data from a Phase II clinical study of the latter's Cinquil (reslizumab) in adults with eosinophilic asthma.

Cephalon signed an agreement in January 2009 providing it with an option to purchase all outstanding capital stock of Ception, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, for a $100.0-million upfront payment. Under the terms of the deal, if Cephalon exercised its option, the company would purchase all of the outstanding capital stock of Ception for $250.0 million, the firms said at the time.

A Phase II clinical trial of Ception's lead compound, Cinquil, in 106 patients demonstrated improved asthma control in adult patients with moderate-to-severe asthma and eosinophilic airway inflammation, as measured by the primary study endpoint, a change in Asthma-Control -Questionnaire or ACQ score (p=0.054). In addition, an analysis of the FEV1, a measure of lung function, showed a statistically-significant improvement with Cinquil compared to placebo (p= 0.002).