Shire acquires Premacure for an undisclosed sum
Boosting its rare diseases business
Shire has acquired biotechnology company Premacure of Uppsala, Sweden, a privately held biotechnology company, expanding its rare diseases business.
Premacure is developing a drug, currently in Phase II development, for the prevention of a potentially blinding eye disorder in premature babies.
Shire did not reveal any financial details but said it would make an upfront payment followed by certain contingent payments based on clinical development and commercial milestones.
The acquisition takes Shire into the new area of neonatology – the treatment of sick or premature newborn infants – and expands its focus on developing novel therapies for the treatment of rare diseases with high unmet medical need.
Premacure, which was established in 2006, has an experimental protein replacement medicine in mid-stage Phase II clinical development for the prevention of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
Normal full-term babies produce enough growth factors on their own to prevent diseases such as ROP. But those born before 31 weeks may lack chemicals such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which can result in life-long complications like ROP.
Shire said its human genetic therapies (HGT) division would continue with the Phase II study, the primary goal of which is to restore the IGF-1 levels in premature infants to those found in full-term babies.
