The combined company will have an expanded portfolio of clinical development programs in oncology, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, stroke recovery and diabetic foot ulcers.
In addition, the combined company will own a 49% interest in RXi Pharmaceuticals. Included in the acquired pipeline are North American and European licensing rights to tamibarotene, a drug currently being sold in Japan for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).
Tamibarotene is presently in a pivotal Phase II clinical trial in APL, and CytRx anticipates that the acquisition will accelerate the time to its first potential new drug application filing by several years to 2010.
Steven Kriegsman, president and CEO of CytRx, said: “This acquisition improves our potential for near-term revenue while maintaining our longer-term emphasis on our molecular chaperone technology platform. The addition of this pipeline leverages our significant expertise in oncology drug development.”