Allergan completes acquisition of Vitae

Allergan successfully  completed its tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Vitae Pharmaceuticals.

As previously announced, Allergan offered to purchase all outstanding shares of Vitae for $21.00 per share, in cash, for a total transaction value of approximately $639 M.

“The completion of the Vitae acquisition will add highly differentiated development compounds and bolsters our innovative medical dermatology pipeline,” said David Nicholson, Chief R&D Officer, Allergan.  “Through its deep expertise in discovering and developing first-in-class compounds in atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and autoimmune diseases, the Vitae team will add important capabilities to Allergan’sOpen Science R&D approach.”, he added.

“The Vitae team has been tremendously successful in discovering and conducting early development work in areas of medicine that can benefit from significant innovation,” said Jeff Hatfield, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vitae. “Allergan has a long track record in developing and commercializing innovative dermatologic treatments. I believe our programs will be poised for successful development as part of Allergan’s portfolio. I am very proud of the tremendous contributions of our research teams and the clinical community who have led the discovery and development of our pipeline programs, and I thank them for their dedication to this science that may one day help many patients with dermatologic conditions, autoimmune disorders and potentially other conditions.”, Hatfield added.

The acquisition strengthens Allergan’s dermatology product pipeline, with the addition of VTP-43742, a Phase 2 first-in-class, orally active retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor gamma inhibitor for the potential treatment of psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders. The acquisition also adds VTP-38543, a Phase 2a topical Liver X Receptor beta selective agonist for the potential treatment of atopic dermatitis. It is believed that VTP-38543 works by decreasing inflammation in damaged skin tissue and repairing the damaged outer layer of skin, said Allergan.

The acquisition also adds Vitae’s Contour structure-based drug design platform aimed at discovering product candidates for validated therapeutic targets where biopharmaceutical research and development has traditionally struggled to develop drugs due to challenges related to potency, selectivity and pharmacokinetics.

Vitae reported a net loss of $20.4 M for the first half of 2016, mostly due to its low revenue and research and development of $15,5 M expenses.

Nevertheless, considering all Vitae’s developing products, it is safe to believe that  Allergan will benefit from this acquisition in relatively short period of time.