Coeptis Pharma Buys Elto Pharma for Phase II Parkinson's Asset
Published: Nov 28, 2018
By Mark Terry
animation of Parkinsons Neuron, with visible lewy bodies
Wexford, Pa.-based Coeptis Pharmaceuticals is buying New York-based Elto Pharma. Elto Pharma is a joint venture between Amarantus Bioscience Holdings and PsychoGenics.
Under the deal, Coeptis is acquiring all outstanding share of Elto. Financial details have not been disclosed.
Elto Pharma is developing eltoprazine, which is in Phase IIb clinical development for Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesias, or Parkinson’s LID.
“Eltoprazine will be a key long-term growth driver for Coeptis given its outstanding profile as a potential therapy across several brain-related conditions,” stated David Mehalick, president and chief executive officer of Coeptis. “As we focus on the near-term commercialization of our 505(b)2 and generic pipeline, with the launch of our first FDA-approved 505(b)2 product expected in 2019, Coeptis will be strongly positioned to successfully launch its products across multiple disease areas in the years ahead. Eltoprazine has a blockbuster potential as a new chemical entity treatment for multiple neurological conditions, beginning with Parkinson’s LID.”
Eltoprazine was first developed by Solvay, now AbbVie, for aggression-related indications. It was then out-licensed to PsychoGenics, which then licensed it to Amarantus in 2014. In April 2017, Amarantus incorporated the wholly-owned Elto Pharma in order to raise capital for clinical development of eltoprazine.
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Earlier this month, Coeptis signed a multi-product agreement with Mumbai, India’s Ciron Drugs & Pharmaceuticals. Under that deal, the two companies will develop and commercialize several generic drugs. Ciron will develop and manufacture several drugs exclusively for Coeptis to market in the U.S. under its label. According to IMS Health, the drugs have a total U.S. sales of more than $100 million.
“We are very excited to partner with such an honorable company,” stated Dan Yerace, vice president of Operations at Coeptis. “Ciron’s business and personal integrity is world-class, and its commitment to manufacturing high-quality products has earned them a reputation of excellence. Partners like Ciron will play a vital role as Coeptis continues to expand its pipeline of niche, high-value products.”
Amarantus describes itself as “a U.S.-based, JLABS-alumnus biotechnology holding company developing first-in-class orphan neurologic, regenerative medicine and ophthalmic therapies and diagnostics through its subsidiaries.”
In June, it updated plans to raise capital for Elto Pharma. An independent third-party valuation valued eltoprazine in the U.S. and Europe at $316 million. At that time, Amarantus had two pathways for Elto. The first was standalone private funding followed by an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. or Hong Kong. The second was a business combination with an established clinical-stage pharma company where Amarantus could become a significant shareholder.
At the time, Gerald E. Commissiong, president and chief executive officer of Amarantus and interim-chief executive officer of Elto, stated, “The immediate focus for Amarantus with regards to our wholly-owned subsidiary Elto Pharma is to ensure that we maximize the current value inherent in the eltoprazine asset, where a recent independent third-party valuation places the value of eltoprazine in PD-LID alone in the U.S. and Europe at approximately 30x the entire current market capitalization of Amarantus.”
He went on to say, “With the capital restructuring of Amarantus nearing its final stages, we believe we will soon be positioned to properly execute upon our Elto Pharma strategy. Ultimately, we see value not only from the PD-LID orphan indication for eltoprazine, which we expect to appreciate significantly over time as the PID-LID indication is further clinically de-risked, but we also intend to see the Agitation in Alzheimer’s disease and Adult ADHD indications for eltoprazine become valued by the market as Elto Pharma executes upon its clinical development strategy.”
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