Savient to sell out to Crealta Pharma for around $120 million

US drugmaker Savient Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SVNT), which recently elected to file voluntary bankruptcy protection (The Pharma Letter October 15), has agreed to a takeover offer of around $120.4 million from Crealta Pharmaceuticals.

The sale, which requires approval from the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, includes Savient’s main drug asset, Krystexxa (pegloticase), the only product approved for refractory chronic gout. A Court hearing is scheduled for December 13).

Although the drug was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and came to the US Market on December 2010, Krystexxa has sold only about $33.6 million by June 30 this year, compared to a $141 million tab for marketing and sales costs since the FDA approved the drug noted Ben Fidler, Xconomy's East Coast biotechnology editor. The drug has been unable to tap into the European market due to reimbursement issues, he noted.