AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACRX) (AcelRx), a Redwood City-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for use in healthcare institutions, is to acquire Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company using its proprietary chemistry technology to develop and commercialize novel tetracyclines for serious and life-threatening conditions, including bacterial infections caused by many multidrug-resistant, or MDR, bacteria.
The stock for stock deal was at an exchange ratio of 0.6303 shares of AcelRx for each share of Tetraphase, or approximately $14.4m as of the close of trading on March 13, 2020, plus a contingent value right. The CVR represents additional consideration upon XERAVA™ (eravacycline for injection) achieving certain net sales starting in 2021.
The acquisition is consistent with AcelRx’s strategic plan to expand and diversify the company’s product portfolio and create a growth platform towards becoming a leader in providing innovative treatments to healthcare institutions.
The transaction – unanimously approved by both the AcelRx and Tetraphase Boards of Directors – is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.
The two companies have also entered into a co-promotion agreement to commercialize XERAVA™ for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) and DSUVIA® for the management of acute pain in medically supervised settings. The co-promotion deal will take effect immediately and enable the AcelRx and Tetraphase teams to benefit from the promotion of multiple products, leverage each company’s customer relationships, and create efficiencies amongst commercial teams prior to the closing of the merger.
Led by Vince Angotti, Chief Executive Officer, AcelRx Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for use in healthcare institutions. Its proprietary, non-invasive sublingual formulation technology delivers sufentanil with consistent pharmacokinetic profiles. The company has one approved product in the U.S., DSUVIA® (sufentanil sublingual tablet, 30 mcg), known as DZUVEO™ in Europe, indicated for the management of acute pain severe enough to require an opioid analgesic for adult patients in certified medically supervised healthcare settings, and one product candidate, Zalviso® (sufentanil sublingual tablet system, SST system, 15 mcg), an investigational product in the U.S., is being developed as an innovatively designed patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system for reduction of moderate-to-severe acute pain in medically supervised settings. DZUVEO and Zalviso are both approved products in Europe.
Led by Larry Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company using its proprietary chemistry technology to develop and commercialize novel tetracyclines for serious and life-threatening conditions, including bacterial infections caused by many multidrug-resistant, or MDR, bacteria. The company’s commercial product, XERAVA™ (eravacycline), a fully synthetic fluorocycline, is an intravenous, or IV, antibiotic that is approved for use as a first-line empiric monotherapy for the treatment of MDR infections, including those found in complicated intra-abdominal infections, or cIAI. The pipeline also includes TP-271 IV and Oral, and TP-6076 IV only, which are Phase 2 ready, and TP-2846, which is in preclinical testing for acute myeloid leukemia.
FinSMEs
16/03/2020