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news.In a move to expand its cancer drug portfolio, MGI Pharma has reached an agreement to acquire Guilford Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued to be worth around $177.5 million.
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The acquisition will also strengthen MGI Pharma’s position in the acute-care drugs market. In particular, MGI will gain access to Guilford’s Gliadel Wafer brain cancer treatment and the experimental Aquavan sedation drug for use during procedures such as colonoscopy.
Aquavan injection has already completed a phase III trial in which it successfully met its endpoint in a study of patients undergoing colonoscopy. This trial, which compared the results for patients receiving Aquavan injection or midazolam, indicated that Aquavan injection achieved a sedation success rate of 96% compared to 74% for patients treated with midazolam.
MGI Pharma will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Guilford for $3.75 per share; this represents a premium of 55.6% over Guilford’s closing price on July 20, 2005. MGI Pharma expects to issue approximately 4.5 million shares as part of this transaction.