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news.Niche pharmaceutical firm ESP Pharma has acquired US and Canadian rights to heart drug Retavase from Centocor, a biopharmaceutical operating company of Johnson & Johnson, in a move it hopes will boost 2005 turnover.
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Scios Inc, another Johnson & Johnson company, currently markets the product on behalf of Centocor. ESP Pharma has now acquired distribution, manufacturing, development and marketing rights, all relevant intellectual property, and approximately two years supply of inventory plus certain manufacturing equipment.
First introduced into the US market in 1997, Retavase (reteplase) belongs to the fibrinolytic or thrombolytic class of pharmaceutical agents used in the acute-care setting to dissolve coronary blood clots and improve blood flow in heart attack patients. Each year, in the US alone, more than one million people suffer a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction, or AMI).
Retavase is indicated for use in the management of AMI in adults for the improvement of ventricular function following AMI, the reduction of the incidence of congestive heart failure, and the reduction of mortality associated with AMI.
The product can be administered within a 30-minute time window by a double-bolus injection without dose adjustment for patient weight compared to other thrombolytics requiring longer duration intravenous infusions or dosing adjustments based on weight.
“In addition to contributing significantly to our revenue stream, Retavase is expected to increase our earnings this year,” noted John Spitznagel, ESP Pharma’s chairman and CEO. “We are highly optimistic about leveraging the strength of our sales force to re-launch Retavase and increase sales levels over 2004 while benefiting from marketing synergies with our flagship product, Cardene IV.”
Acquired from Wyeth in May 2002, Cardene IV is a patent protected intravenous preparation of nicardipine for the treatment of hypertension.
ESP Pharma recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Protein Design Labs for approximately $475 million. PDL and ESP have now agreed to increase the purchase price payable to ESP shareholders at the closing of the ESP acquisition by $25 million in cash in connection with the Retavase transaction.