Biocon Ltd has put up the winning bid for acquiring all the assets of Nobex Corporation, a drug development company specializing in a proprietary drug delivery system to enable oral delivery of peptide drugs. Biocon and Nobex had earlier entered into an alliance for the global co-development and commercialisation of oral insulin and oral B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP).

Nobex had filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 on December 01, 2005. The auction was conducted on March 16, 2006, and the Court approved the best bid by the company on March 20, 2006. The company made an opening stalking horse bid of $ 3.5 million to acquire the assets of Nobex before the auction and emerged as the final bidder with a total commitment, including the settlement with the creditors committee, of US$ 5.0 million and certain back-end royalties, stated a Biocon release.

The sale of Nobex assets to the company, as well as a settlement with the Creditors Committee was duly concluded under the supervision of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. The assets acquired by the company include: IN-105, an oral insulin for type 2 diabetes; BN-054, an oral B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) for cardiovascular disease; Oratonin, an oral calcitonin in phase 1 trials for osteoporosis; Oral PTH (Para Thyroid Hormone) and APAZA, an oral small molecule drug in phase 1 / 2 trials for inflammatory bowel disease.

Commenting on the acquisition, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, "This is truly a strategic acquisition which provides us with an immensely valuable IP platform. It also gives us full ownership of our on-going Oral Insulin and Oral BNP programs. It also provides us access to additional innovative technologies & new therapeutic paradigms. We have acquired an intellectual property estate of nearly 300 patents and patent applications focused on oral peptide therapeutics in the metabolic & cardiovascular segment. We propose to leverage these proprietary assets through a combination of licensing and co-development partnerships. Biocon believes that the future of the pharmaceutical industry lies in innovation and our focus on IP & technology will be a strong differentiator."