Biotie drops Newron after Merck Serono's safinamide bombshell

Finnish firm Biotie Therapies has decided not to proceed with its plan to acquire Italian Newron Pharmaceuticals after Merck Serono announced last week that it would return the rights to Newron's lead product, safinamide. Newron will be required to pay Biotie a €1.5 million termination fee at a time when it is already critically low on cash.

Biotie said that Merck Serono's decision on the Phase III Parkinson's disease candidate constituted a material adverse effect that gave...