Epix Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel therapeutics through the use of its proprietary and highly efficient in silico drug discovery platform, has sold the US (including Puerto Rico), Canadian and Australian rights for MS-325 (formerly marketed as Vasovist, gadofosveset trisodium, by Bayer Schering Pharma) its novel blood pool magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) agent, to Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc for aggregate gross cash proceeds of $28 million.
Epix will continue to own European and other non-US rights (other than in Canada and Australia) for the imaging agent enabling it to pursue further monetization of these rights. Epix will pay $10.5 million of the cash proceeds from the transaction to Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany, to satisfy its obligations related to U.S., Canadian and Australian Vasovist development costs. Epix and Bayer Schering Pharma had a collaboration and commercialization agreement for Vasovist that terminated as of February 28, 2009.
"With this transaction, we have made meaningful progress in our strategy to successfully monetize MS-325," said Elkan Gamzu, president and chief executive officer of Epix. "As we have stated previously, one component of our overall corporate strategy has been to utilize MS-325 as a vehicle to bring capital into the company and to strengthen our cash position. We intend to use the net proceeds of this transaction to pursue an exchange offer of all of our outstanding 3 per cent Senior Convertible Notes, which we are announcing separately. We believe that this transaction with Lantheus, when coupled with a successful restructuring of our outstanding debt, will position us well to strengthen our balance sheet and overall financial position. We continue to develop our other preclinical and clinical compounds that are a part of our core therapeutic focus and include PRX-03140 focused on Alzheimer's disease, PRX-08066 for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and our ongoing collaboration with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics, Inc."
In December 2008, Epix received US Food and Drug Administration marketing approval for MS-325 under the trade name Vasovist to evaluate aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) in adults with known or suspected peripheral vascular disease.
"MS-325 is a first-in-class blood specific MRA contrast agent and we are pleased that we have reached this agreement to acquire MS-325 from Epix," said Don Kiepert, president and chief executive officer of Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. "We believe the high-quality images resulting from MS-325 will allow physicians to fully utilize MRA as a meaningful diagnostic and therapeutic tool."
MS-325 (formerly marketed in the European Union, Canada and Switzerland as Vasovist by Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany) is an injectable intravascular contrast agent designed to provide improved imaging of the vascular system through magnetic resonance angiography imaging (MRA).
Epix Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel therapeutics through the use of its proprietary and highly efficient in silico drug discovery platform.
Lantheus Medical Imaging a worldwide leader in diagnostic medicine for the past 50 years, is committed to advancing the field of diagnostic imaging.