Piramal buys molecular imaging portfolio from Bayer

Indian drugmaker Piramal Healthcare (BSE: 500302) says it has signed an agreement to acquire worldwide rights to the molecular imaging R&D portfolio of German group Bayer (BAY: DE) through its newly created subsidiary - Piramal Imaging SA.

Under the deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, Piramal will have the intellectual property (including patents, trademarks and know-how), worldwide development, marketing and distribution rights of the lead compound florbetaben as well as other clinical and preclinical assets of Bayer's molecular imaging business.

First Phase III results with florbetaban will be presented on April 25 2012 at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Florbetaben is a PET tracer for the detection of beta-amyloid plaque deposition in the brain, which is the pathological hallmark of disease in probable Alzheimer's disease patients. Detection of beta-Amyloid depositions is expected to result in earlier diagnosis and more specific treatment of Alzheimer's disease.