AsianScientist (Apr. 29, 2011) – Australian pharmaceutical reformulation company iCeutica Inc. announced yesterday that it has finalized the sale of all of its shares to Iroko Holdings S.A, the parent company of its US-based partner, Iroko Pharmaceuticals, LLC.
The sale price was not disclosed, but iCeutica confirms that the price was more than 10 times the closing valuation of its first fundraising round for the company in July 2005. The existing management team, including CEO Mr. Matt Callahan and CSO Dr. Bill Bosch, will continue to lead the company after the acquisition.
iCeutica, which is based in Philadelphia, USA and Perth, Australia reformulates a range of pharmaceutical products using its SoluMatrix® reformulation platform. Its internal clinical pipeline currently includes reformulations of pain and inflammation drug meloxicam and muscle relaxant metaxalone.
Iroko is a Philadelphia-based international pharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialization of a range of products in the pain and inflammation therapeutic space. Recently completed Phase 2 clinical trials of Iroko’s three leading products show the potential to dominate the $7 billion global market for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
“The acquisition of iCeutica was a natural fit for Iroko. Bringing together the SoluMatrix platform and iCeutica’s clinical and development pipeline alongside Iroko’s advanced clinical programs creates a robust pipeline with the, capital and capability to compete globally,” said Iroko CEO John Vavricka.
iCeutica licensed three products reformulated utilizing its SoluMatrix platform to Iroko in 2007. Each of these products has recently successfully completed Phase 2 clinical trials and two of these products are scheduled to enter Phase 3 clinical trials later in 2011.
The combined iCeutica/Iroko company will boast five clinical stage products, with three products having completed Phase 2 trials, one entering Phase 2 trials and one entering Pilot PK trials in the coming 12 months. Four of these products are reformulations of the popular NSAID class of pain and inflammation products, which dominate the prescription and OTC markets in the USA and globally.
iCeutica will operate as a stand-alone company within the Iroko group and will continue to develop new products for patients via traditional oral and inhalable delivery routes. These products will be developed either by iCeutica, or in conjunction with external partners.
Osagie Imasogie, iCeutica Chairman said: “This is a great example of the world class intellectual property being developed in Australia and making a real impact on the global pharmaceuticals market. There is a wonderful opportunity to repeat this success with other Australian technologies and companies, given the depth of research and talent in Australia.”
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Source: Iceutica Pharmaceuticals.
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