Heptares and Allergan sign $3.35 billion deal in neuro diseases

7 April 2016

Hot on the heels of its abandoned $160 billion mega-merger with US pharma giant Pfizer, Ireland-domiciled Allergan (NYSE; AGN) has announced a major collaboration with Heptares Therapeutics, that could earn the latter as much as $3.35 billion, reinforcing chief executive Brent Saunders confidence as a standalone company (The Pharma Letter April 6).

UK-based Heptares, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s Sosei group (TYO: 4565) has entered into a definitive agreement under which Allergan will license exclusive global rights to a broad portfolio of novel subtype-selective muscarinic receptor agonists in development for the treatment of major neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Shares in Sosei, which acquired Heptares last year for as much as $400 million, rose more than 21% to 17,180 yen on news of the deal today (TPL February 23, 2015).

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