Harmony Biosciences gains US rights to pitolisant; raises $270 million

USA-based Harmony Biosciences, a part of the Paragon Biosciences corporate family, has acquired the exclusive US right to develop, register and market the drug pitolisant from French company Bioprojet SCR.

Harmony, established and guided by Paragon, also announced that it completed a $270 million equity financing to facilitate this acquisition and accelerate its ability to address unmet needs for patients with sleep and other central nervous system disorders. Financial terms of the deal with Bioprojet were not disclosed.

Pitolisant is approved in the European Union and distributed under the trade name  Wakix for the treatment of narcolepsy in adult patients with and without cataplexy. Currently no H3-receptor antagonist/inverse agonist has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.