Cephalon offers $318 million for Arana

Pennsylvania company Cephalon has bid $317 million for Australia’s Arana Therapeutics, claiming it is in the better position to take Arana’s anti-TNF antibody ART621 to market.

Cephalon, a NASDAQ-listed biopharma, has an impressive portfolio of products on the market, including Treanda (bendamustine hydrochloride), a pro-apoptopic compound for refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, which was given orphan drug designation and approved by the FDA last year.

It has a number of VEGF-R and kinase-based oncology products in early stage development, as well as products in central nervous system disorders and opioid-based pain relief.

Cephalon has recently been adding to its inflammatory disease pipeline. This year, it licensed a lupus drug, Lupuzor, from UK company ImmuPharma, and recently bought another Pennsylvania company, the privately held Ception Therapeutics, which like Arana concentrates on antibody-based therapeutics.

Cephalon offered US$100 million for Ception, which has compounds in Phase II trials for inflammatory disorders affecting the eosophagus.

"Arana would bolster our burgeoning inflammatory disease pipeline as well as our oncology pipeline," the company’s CEO, Dr Frank Baldino, said in a statement.

"Arana has an established protein engineering technology platform that transforms proteins, including antibodies, into potent drug candidates.”

Arana’s two independent directors, Robin Beaumont and Chris Harris, have recommended shareholders accept the offer. If it receives 90 per cent approval, shareholders will receive an extra six per cent.

Cephalon already owns almost 20 per cent of Arana.