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Versicor/Biosearch Italia: Merging as Equals

 
• By Melanie Senior

Versicor had wanted to buy its partner Biosearch Italia for more than a year prior to July's deal. But it had to wait for its market capitalization to fall closer in line with that of the Italian biotech so that the transaction could qualify as a "merger of equals."

Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s estimated €230 million ($234 million) all-stock acquisition in July of anti-infectives counterpart Biosearch Italia SPA is easily justified [See Deal]. The companies had been collaborating since February 1998, when they formed a joint venture called Biocor to identify anti-infective leads from Biosearch Italia's natural products library and apply Versicor's downstream combinatorial chemistry to optimize them [See Deal]. At the same time, Versicor in-licensed co-development rights and US marketing rights to Biosearch Italia's antibiotic dalbavancin, now in phase II for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in skin, soft tissue and the bloodstream [See Deal]. The drug's formulation as a once-a-week injectable and its high potency could also offer significant advantages over vancomycin in treating MRSA.

Buying Biosearch Italia outright saves Versicor paying the group royalties on dalbavancin, which it expects to file at the end of 2004, as well as manufacturing costs. Versicor's CFO Dov...

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