Shire to buy regenerative medicines firm Advanced BioHealing for $750 million

Ireland-headquartered biopharmaceutical firm Shire (LSE: SHP) - best known for its attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder franchise - has signed an agreement to acquire privately-held USA-based regenerative medicine company Advanced BioHealing for $750 million in cash, financed from its existing cash.

The acquisition will led to the creation of a new strategic platform based on tissue regeneration using cell-based therapies complementing Shire's existing specialty focus and biologics manufacturing capability. The deal will also bring to Shire’s portfolio Dermagraft, which the Irish company says is an attractive US marketed product with further growth potential. This is Shire’s second company acquisition in less than a year, after it bought the Belgian firm Movetis for $558 million (The Pharma Letter August 4, 2010).

Dermagraft is a regenerative bio-engineered skin substitute indicated for use in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers greater than six weeks in duration. It has already achieved 5% patient share of the potential $3 billion slow healing DFU market and had $146 million in US sales in 2010. Slow healing DFUs affect nearly 538,000 people annually in the USA.