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Biocon acquires IP assets of Nobex Corp
By agencies
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Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 20:30 IST
BANGALORE: IndiaÂ’s Bio-pharmaceutical major, Biocon Ltd, has announced that it has won the bid to acquire all intellectual property (IP) assets of its bankrupt U.S. research partner Nobex Corp.
The IP acquisition, unprecedented among Indian companies, has cost Biocon $5 million, including the final bid amount of $4.1 million, royalties and creditor settlements in what could be called a not hotly contested bid.
With this the Bangalore-based company has become the sole inventor of delivery technologies and processes for half a dozen pipeline drugs of Nobex. The two were working on global co-development and commercialization of the revolutionary oral insulin tablet IN105 and a heart failure drug called BN054, both of them in advanced pre-clinical stages.
The other assets of Nobex include Oratonin, an oral calcitonin in phase 1 trials for osteoporosis; Oral PTH (Para Thyroid Hormone) and APAZA, an oral small molecule drug in phase 1/2 trials for inflammatory bowel disease.
According to the company sources, the products would be at least couple of years away and the potential returns from oral insulin alone could be huge.
Commenting on the development, BioconÂ’s Chairperson, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, "This is truly a strategic acquisition which provides us with an immensely valuable IP platform. It also gives us full ownership of our ongoing oral insulin and oral BNP programs."
Besides, this enables the company to access to additional innovative technologies and new therapeutic paradigms. The company has acquired an IP estate of nearly 300 patents and patent applications focused on oral peptide therapeutics in the metabolic & cardiovascular segment.