Cornerstone Therapeutics yesterday announced the acquisition of Cardiokine, Inc. The merger, effective December 30, 2011, will have Cornerstone receiving all outstanding shares of Cardiokine, which recently completed Phase III clinical trials for its compound, lixivaptan.
Based in North Carolina, Cornerstone Therapeutics is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on products for the respiratory, hospital and related markets. The company focuses on acquiring, developing and marketing said products, and leveraging existing business in niche portions of those same markets.
The acquisition will grant Cornerstone worldwide rights to investigational therapy using lixivaptan, a compound designed to treat hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is a condition that manifests when there is not enough sodium in the bloodstream; this is the most common electrolyte disorder among hospitalized patients in the U.S. The disorder affects up to six million people in the United States, where it is often diagnosed in patients with heart failure. One fourth of the five million people in the U.S. who are affected by heart failure will develop hyponatremia.
Lixivaptan is an orally active, selective vasopressin 2 receptor antagonist, and can potentially assist in developing new treatment methods. Treatment options currently available have limitations that have kept them out of many hospitals.
“We are very excited about adding a hospital product to complement Curosurf, our neonatal lung surfactant. This is the first of several deals we hope to complete as we continue to execute the strategic plan that we initiated in 2011,” said Craig A. Collard, Cornerstone’s Chief Executive Officer. “The hyponatremia market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years and currently has limited treatment alternatives. The acquisition of Cardiokine allows Cornerstone to expand our pipeline into a new area of treatment and creates the potential to use our hospital specialty expertise to help meet the needs of patients with hyponatremia.”
Mr. Collard continued, “Consistent with our stated strategic intent, we expect this transaction to be accretive within the first full year following launch. Additionally, we will continue the ex-U.S. licensing discussions initiated by Cardiokine, which present the opportunity for incremental revenue.”
“The clinical trials of lixivaptan were conducted in addition to current standard care in patients with hyponatremia associated with heart failure and the syndrome of inappropriate hormone secretion (SIADH), and comprise the largest placebo-controlled dataset to date in these populations,” said Cesare Orlandi, MD, former Cardiokine Chief Medical Officer, who will continue his work on lixivaptan as a consultant to Cornerstone.
About QualityStocks:
QualityStocks is committed to connecting subscribers with companies that have huge potential to succeed in the short and long-term future. We offer several ways for investors to learn more about investing in these companies as well as find and evaluate them.
Sign up for “The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter” at www.QualityStocks.net
The Quality Stocks Daily Blog http://blog.qualitystocks.net
The Quality Stocks Daily Videos http://videocharts.qualitystocks.net
The Quality Stocks “Ones to Watch” http://Gotstocks.QualityStocks.net
Please see disclaimer on the QualityStocks website: http://disclaimer.qualitystocks.net
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment