Nov 14, 2019
AbbVie this year in June has agreed to buy Allergan for USD 63 Billion, which is one of the largest deals this year. The acquisition will help AbbVie to diversify its drug portfolio which mostly revolves around Humira.
Humira (adalimumab) is a tumour necrosis factor (TNF) blocker that helps to reduce the effects of inflammation due to any substance. Used to treat inflammatory disorders in adults such as ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, plaque psoriasis, and a skin condition called hidradenitis suppurativa.
The acquisition will add TRPML1 agonists designed by Calporta to treat neurodegenerative disorders. The agonists work by clearing the proteins from the brain.
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Calporta was set up by Avalon and GSK together in 2015 with the aim to form 10 biotechs.
Merck has struck a deal to buy Calporta Therapeutics for up to $576 million. The takeover centres on TRPML1 agonists designed to treat neurodegenerative disorders by clearing toxic proteins from the brain.
TRPML1 is a way to treat lysosomal storage disorders such as Niemann-Pick disease type C. It is a rare progressive disorder with total prevalent population observed to be 2116 in 2017 in the 7MM, as observed by DelveInsight.
The company has announced the positive Phase III results of the drug in rare disease hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES).
The disorder is a myeloproliferative disorder which results in multiple organ failure due to consistent eosinophilia.
Nucala (mepolizumab) has been observed to be the first treatment which has shown a significant reduction in flares’ in HES, inflammatory attacks. At present, the drug is approved for the treatment of severe eosinophilic asthma and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA).
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