Entasis Therapeutics steered its lead antibiotic candidate through late-stage clinical development with the help of Innoviva, which has steadily invested in the company over the past two years and now has a controlling stake.Innoviva is now on the cusp of FDA submissions as the biotech’s drug candidates to tackle some drug-resistant strains Get Entasis The deal valued the company at $113 million.
Under financial terms announced Monday, Innoviva will pay $2.20 in cash for each share of Entasis it does not already own. The price represents a 22.2% premium to Entasis’ Friday closing price and a 50% premium to its Jan. 31 closing price, the last day before Innoviva’s first bid for the biotech company was made public.
Waltham, Massachusetts-based Entasis’ lead antibiotic candidate is called SUL-DUR. The drug pairs sulbactam, an older antibiotic, with dulobactam, a newer antibiotic from Entasis.The biotechnology aims to treat Acinetobacter baumannii, opportunistic bacteria mainly infect critically ill patients who are already immunocompromised. Compared with other bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii The ability to develop resistance to drugs more quickly makes them especially problematic in hospital settings.Infections caused by drug resistance Acinetobacter baumannii can become fatal. Entasis developed its drugs to address strains that are resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotic carbapenem.
last October, Entasis Reports SUL-DUR Meets Primary Objective of Phase 3 Clinical Trial, reduces mortality compared with currently available antibiotic therapy. The results also showed that more patients in the SUL-DUR group achieved clinical cure, that is, resolution of all signs and symptoms of infection. Entasis details results of Phase 3 study in poster introduce Last week at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society.
Entasis is AstraZeneca’s infection-fighting division. The subsidiary was spun off from the parent company in 2015 and went public three years later. Innoviva, headquartered in Burlingame, California, is the holding company that manages the royalty portfolio of GSK’s three respiratory products. Innoviva is also expanding its reach by taking stakes in drug developers.In addition to Entassis, the company has Invest in Armata Pharmaceuticalsa biotechnology that is developing phage therapy for drug-resistant and difficult-to-treat bacterial infections.
Innoviva made its first investment in Entassis in 2020. A third private investment in May last year raised Innoviva’s stake in the company to 59.9%. The acquisition agreement comes just in time for Entasis.in its report First Quarter 2022 Financial Results, the company said its cash position was $33.5 million, just enough to last through the third quarter of this year. At that time, Entassis expects to submit a New Drug Application to the FDA. The acquisition means Innoviva’s cash will support SUL-DUR’s regulatory review and then possible commercialization.
Innoviva CEO Pavel Raifeld said in a prepared statement: “This transaction represents the next stage in our efforts to diversify our business beyond our valuable portfolio of royalties and will provide patients , health systems and shareholders.” “Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter infection is an area of unmet medical need, and if approved by regulatory agencies, SUL-DUR could become a lead treatment for the disease.”
The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the Entasis and Innoviva boards of directors. The two companies are expected to close the transaction in the third quarter of this year.
Public area picture by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
