NeuroDerm, which announced its pending sale
to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation on Monday for $1.1b., began as an idea
for a better way to deliver a Parkinson’s drug among three friends: BGU Prof. Eli Heldman, Dr. Moshe Kushnir and Dr. Haim
Shlesinger.
The three thought of a way to deliver the
drug levodopa, which increases dopamine levels in the brain and reduces
Parkinson’s symptoms, sub-cutaneously with a miniaturized pump. Levodopa only
reduces symptoms if a constant amount is continually pumped into the body. The longstanding
gold standard treatment requires surgery to insert a catheter into the
patient’s stomach to which a pouch and pump are attached. For those
uninterested in surgery, levodopa is available in pill form, but then the
dosage is not continuous. NeuroDerm’s device would make the gold standard
treatment accessible and less disruptive for the majority of Parkinson’s
patients.
“We believe that this transaction will
yield important benefits for NeuroDerm’s shareholders and the Parkinson’s
disease patients that urgently need new therapies,” said Oded S. Lieberman,
PhD, CEO of NeuroDerm. “MTPC has demonstrated development and commercialization
expertise in the field of neurology and we are confident that the combination
of their resources and the robust data supporting ND0612, our Phase III
Parkinson’s disease product candidate, will help make this important new
therapy available as broadly and rapidly as possible. The transaction also
provides our shareholders with a significant return on their investment in
NeuroDerm, reflecting the value that we have created with our pipeline and technologies.”
NeuroDerm is in Phase III clinical trials
in the United States with results expected later this year. Clinical trials to
be held in Europe are expected to yield results in 2018.
Heldman is a member of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at
BGU. He is also one of three researchers behind the V-SmartTM Nanomedicines for
brain cancers currently being developed by Lauren Sciences. His co-researchers
for the V-Smart system are Dr. Sarina Grinberg and Dr. Charles Linder.
Heldman was the company’s chief scientist
for the first few years after its founding but has not played an active role in
the company in the last several years.
NeuroDerm Ltd. (Nasdaq: NDRM), a clinical
stage pharmaceutical company developing drug-device combinations for central
nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced Monday that it had signed a
definitive agreement under which Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (TSE
Code: 4508) (“MTPC”), a publicly traded company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange,
will acquire NeuroDerm for US$39 per share in cash.
The transaction received unanimous approval
by NeuroDerm’s Board of Directors and implies an equity value of approximately
US$1.1 billion. The offer of US$39 per share in cash represents a premium of 79
percent over the unaffected price on June 9, 2017 of NeuroDerm’s ordinary
shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market and a 17 percent premium over the closing
stock price on July 21, 2017. A special meeting of shareholders to approve the
transaction is expected to be held this fall. Assuming typical regulatory and
shareholder approval timeframes, NeuroDerm currently anticipates the
transaction will close in the fourth quarter of 2017.
