Our News Bureau – Mumbai
Piramal Healthcare signed an agreement to acquire worldwide rights to the molecular imaging research and development (R&D) portfolio of Bayer Pharma through its newly created subsidiary — Piramal Imaging.
The portfolio includes rights to florbetaben, which is in the final stages of its phase III clinical trials. Under the agreement, Piramal will have the intellectual property (including patents, trademarks and know-how), worldwide development, marketing and distribution rights of the lead compound florbetaben as well as other clinical and pre-clinical assets of Bayer’s molecular imaging business.
Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group said, “This is the second acquisition of late stage assets after our acquisition of assets of BioSyntech in 2011, where we have recently received the European CE mark approval for an innovative bio-orthopaedic product for cartilage repair, BST-CarGel, which enables the company to commercialise BST-CarGel in all of the countries in the European Union. We plan to build a promising portfolio in the pharma space, including our newly acquired molecular imaging assets, which will help us create a global branded pharma business.”
Piramal estimates that the new class of PET imaging agents for Alzheimer’s has a global market potential of up to $1.5 billion and is setting up a dedicated global commercial team for florbetaben.
Core members of Bayer’s R&D team working on the portfolio will be joining Piramal Imaging, which will carry forward the development of florbetaben and take it through regulatory approval processes worldwide. Piramal is planning to file for regulatory approvals