LEO Pharma seeks new partners to boost derma products pipeline

Privately-held Danish drugmaker LEO Pharma last week revealed that it is now actively searching for new global or territorial partners to deliver promising new compounds for its dermatology-focused pipeline.

After successfully gaining US Food and Drug Administration approval in April for Picato (ingenol mebutate), a novel treatment for solar keratoses (The Pharma Letter January 29), LEO Pharma – Denmark’s third largest pharma company - has initiated a global search for new partners within the dermatology sector.

"Last year, we changed our R&D focus to concentrate solely on dermatology. We are now a dermatology company, and we're searching for partners and opportunities to strengthen that position," says Kristian Lykke Fick, who is spearheading the partner search as corporate vice president of corporate business development. He says that LEO Pharma last year spent 141 million euros ($176 million) on R&D, close to 15% t of the company's revenue, and the company hopes to sign two or more new deals before the end of 2012.