KYTHERA regains rights to ATX-101 outside USA and Canada from Bayer

US biotech firm KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KYTH) says it has re-acquired all rights outside of the USA and Canada to ATX-101, a proprietary formulation of a purified synthetic version of deoxycholic acid currently in late-stage development for the reduction of submental fat (double chin).

In 2010, KYTHERA licensed the commercial rights to ATX-101 outside of the USA and Canada to Bayer Consumer Care, a unit of Germany’s Bayer AG (BAYN: DE), which paid an upfront $43 million plus $330 million in potential milestones (The Pharma Letter August 31, 2010), and has now sold back these rights to the US firm.

"We are very pleased to acquire all rights to ATX-101 outside the USA and Canada, giving us full global rights to develop and commercialize ATX-101," said Keith Leonard, KYTHERA's president and chief executive. "We appreciate Bayer's investment in the ATX-101 global development program over the past four years. During that time we strengthened our financial position and assembled a senior executive team with global aesthetic development and commercialization expertise. I am confident in our ability to maximize the long-term global value of ATX-101. While our primary focus remains filing our US New Drug Application in the second quarter of 2014, we also plan to make multiple ex-US regulatory submissions in the next 12 months," he added.