Novartis Boosts Pain Portfolio with Spinifex Acquisition

Swiss drugmaker Novartis is upping its stakes in the chronic pain market with the purchase of U.S.-Australian drugmaker Spinifex Pharmaceuticals for $200 million plus undisclosed milestone payments.

The deal, announced last week, is centered on Spinifex’s EMA401, an oral treatment for chronic and neuropathic pain.

EMA401 — a novel angiotensin II type 2 receptor blocker — treats pain without the usual central nervous system side effects of dizziness and confusion, Melbourne-based Spinifex says. The drug performed well in Phase 2 trials against postherpetic neuralgia, a painful condition associated with shingles.

Novartis plans to launch Phase 2b clinical trials of EMA401 in patients with PHN or painful diabetic neuropathy, says spokesman Eric Althoff, adding the company will have a better idea of developmental timelines once the deal closes in the second half of this year.

Up to 8 percent of patients suffer from chronic pain with neuropathic characteristics, according to Novartis. However, about 40 percent of them don’t respond to the current first-line treatment and 25 percent don’t respond to second-line options. The market for chronic pain medications is expected to reach $35 billion by 2017.

Also last week, Novartis announced one-year results from its Phase 3 study of psoriasis drug Cosentyx. Patients treated with the drug showed a 64 percent improvement in psoriatic arthritis symptoms as measured by the American College of Rheumatology response criteria. The drug won FDA and European Medicines Agency approval in January as a treatment for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis — Kellen Owings