Ipsen To Sell Drug, Milford Facility To Ill. Firm
French pharmaceutical firm Ipsen and its strategic partner, Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals of Cambridge, have agreed to sell their leading hemophilia drug program to Illinois-based Baxter International.
Ipsen, which recently cancelled a planned $42-million expansion of its Milford manufacturing facility, for which it was to receive tax incentives, said it will now sell the Milford property to Baxter as a part of the $185 million deal, which also includes future payments that could bring the total value to more than $700 million. The sale will mark the end of Ipsen's roughly 30-year presence in Milford. During tax incentive negotiations over the summer, the company said it had more than 150 employees in Milford.
Baxter will acquire the worldwide rights to OBI-1, a hemophilia drug that Ipsen and Inspiration had been developing.
John Butler, CEO of Inspiration, said bringing new therapies to hemophilia patients has always been his company's goal.
"Baxter has a long commitment to hemophilia and we are excited that they will be using their expertise to bring this innovative therapy to people who currently have limited treatment options," Butler said in a statement.
Through previous arrangements between Ipsen and Inspiration, each would have had commercialization rights in a different set of countries if the drug was eventually approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The asset purchase agreement was filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston. Inspiration filed for Chapter 11 in late October, and Ipsen had been providing debtor-in-possession financing to fund Inspiration's operations and sale process. After Inspiration filed for bankruptcy protection, Ipsen said it was preparing to take a $153-million write-off on OB1-1 and another hemophilia drug the two had been developing.
That second drug, called IB1001, will likely be sold soon. The companies said they're in the final stages of finding a buyer.
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