Clementia Pharmaceuticals, a Montreal-based drug developer, announced this week that it signed an agreement that will allow Ipsen, French pharmaceuticals, to own 100 percent of the company. Ipsen will pay US$25.00 per share in cash upfront and a contingent value of $6.00 per share related to treatments of multiple osteochondromas, a rare bone disease. The French company will gain ownership of the company after investing approximately $1.31bn.
Clementia will hand over its disease-treatment portfolio to Ipsen as part of the deal. The portfolio includes its key late-stage clinical asset palovarotene, an investigational retinoic acid receptor gamma selective agonist, for the treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, multiple osteochondromas, and other diseases.
Clementia is known for its ground-breaking pharmaceutical asset, the Palovarotene, which inhibits excess bone morphogenetic protein signaling connected to the progression of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva and multiple osteochondromas, two well-characterized, ultra-rare/rare and severely-disabling bone disorders, two disorders that, currently, have no available treatment. The company gained worldwide rights for the palovarotene from Roche back in 2013. Roche used palovarotene in curing lung disease but its use was ended after it failed to beat placebo in patients with Emphysema. It is then purchased by Clementia to be used for bone treatment.
Ipsen Chief Executive Officer David Meek said that the acquisition of Clementia Pharmaceuticals accelerates the ongoing transformation of Ipsen as they are successfully executing on their external innovation strategy to identify and acquire innovative medicines to serve patients with unmet medical needs.
He added that through this transaction, they will gain scientific expertise, exceptional talent, and a cornerstone ultra-rare disease drug candidate with rare pediatric disease and breakthrough therapy designations, potential U.S. approval in 2020 and additional indications to follow.
He also said that they look forward to working closely with Clementia to successfully integrate two companies that share a similar patient-centric culture and the ambition to deliver new treatments to patients with unmet medical needs.
Clementia's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Clarissa Desjardins, said that she is proud of the entire Clementia team, whose tireless efforts have rapidly advanced palovarotene towards a planned NDA submission. She expressed their gratitude for the dedication of the patient community and their clinical trial investigators who have supported them along the way. She assured that Ipsen's global commercial presence and capabilities will expedite their shared vision of bringing palovarotene to patients around the world as quickly as possible. She said that they are anticipating a smooth transition of their operations into the Ipsen organization that will continue Clementia's vision of delivering palovarotene to patients worldwide.
