Piramal sees $1.5 bn from potential Alzheimer's drug florbetaben

Drugmaker Piramal Healthcare sees revenue potential of $1.5 billion from its newly acquired florbetaben molecule, which could be used to treat Alzheimer's disease, its chairman, Ajay Piramal, said on Monday.

The company will file for US approval of the treatment in late 2012, Piramal added.

[caption id="attachment_277179" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Ajay Piramal aid the acquisition was the second of late stage assets after a similar transaction of BioSyntech assets in 2011."][/caption]

Piramal agreed to buy a research and development portfolio from Germany's Bayer AG in a deal that gives the Indian drugmaker commercial and development rights to florbetaben.

Financial details of the deal were not available. Ajay Piramal, Chairman of the Piramal Group, said the acquisition was the second of late stage assets after a similar transaction of BioSyntech assets in 2011.

"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," he said. As per 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, the filing said.

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Further, core members of Bayer's research and development 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.

Agencies