Takeda to buy Envoy in US$140m deal

Published: 7-Nov-2012

Gains access to bacTRAP technology and pre-clinical CNS assets


Takeda Pharmaceutical Co is to buy Envoy Therapeutics for US$140m, which includes an up-front payment and progress-dependent, preclinical milestone payments.

Envoy is a privately held drug discovery company focused on ‘finding new drugs with superior efficacy and fewer side effects than existing treatments’. It is based in Florida, US and employs 21 people.

Takeda already has a 12.5% stake in Envoy following series A financing in October 2009 and two years ago, the firms entered into a project focused on schizophrenia research.

Envoy’s proprietary bacTRAP technology combines innovative genetic engineering with molecular biology techniques for labelling and extracting the protein-making components of specific types of cells.

Takeda says this technology is ‘especially powerful in the brain where many hundreds of cell types are intermingled but is applicable to therapeutic areas beyond the central nervous system (CNS)’.

As well as providing Takeda with the bacTRAP technology, the deal also gives the company access to Envoy’s pre-clinical CNS assets including programmes for Parkinson’s disease and cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS).

‘Since our initial investment in 2009, it has been clear to us that Envoy’s scientific excellence in combination with their vision for the utilisation of bacTRAP technology have great potential to create and explore truly innovative targets across multiple therapeutic areas,’ said Paul Chapman, general manager of Takeda’s Pharmaceutical Research Division.

Brad Margus, chief executive and director of Envoy, added: ‘Takeda’s expertise in so many disease areas, coupled with its strong commitment to innovation in drug discovery, will enable the widespread application of Envoy’s bacTRAP technology.’

Takeda plans to continue operating Envoy in Jupiter, Florida to March 2013, and will then transfer the majority of the company’s scientific staff and management team to its research division in San Diego.

The deal is expected to close this month.

Takeda has been on the acquisition trail this year, buying LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals for $60m last month to expand its vaccines business. In May, it bought Multilab of Brazil.

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