HQ Team
October 14, 2024: H. Lundbeck A/S, a Danish drugmaker, plans to acquire California, US-based Longboard Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion, giving it access to a late-stage drug to treat seizures in a group of rare epilepsies.
The drug, bexicaserin, holds “blockbuster potential” and is in development for the treatment of Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies (DEE) in a program enrolling patients diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and other DEE syndromes, according to a joint statement.
The deal will be financed through a combination of existing cash resources and bank financing.
Lundbeck will offer Longboard shareholders $60 per share in cash. The cash consideration represents a 77% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price of shares of Longboard common stock as of September 30, 2024.
Deal to close this year
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024. Lundbeck expects bexicaserin to be in the market by the fourth quarter of 2028. It expects a global peak of sales between $1.5 and $2 billion.
“The acquisition will enhance and complement Lundbeck’s capabilities and presence within neuro-rare conditions,” according to a statement from Lundbeck.
Bexicaserin has shown encouraging anti-seizure effects to date in preclinical and clinical studies, and a global final-phase trial evaluating bexicaserin for the treatment of seizures associated with Dravet syndrome was initiated in September 2024.
‘Drive growth into next decade’
The La Jolla-headquartered Longboard is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel, transformative medicines for neurological diseases.
The deal “will become a cornerstone in Lundbeck’s neuro-rare franchise, with a potential to drive growth into the next decade,” said Charl van Zyl, President and CEO of Lundbeck.
Bexicaserin addresses a critical unmet need for patients suffering from rare and severe epilepsies, for which there are very few good treatment options available, he said.
Longfornd’s study evaluating bexicaserin for the treatment of seizures associated with Dravet syndrome in participants two years of age and older is planned to enrol 480 patients in 80 global sites.
Movement disorders
The drug has received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the USFDA. The investigational compound is not approved for marketing by the FDA or any other regulatory authority.
DEEs are a group of rare and severe epilepsies. DEEs commonly begin in infancy or childhood and are associated with frequent seizures of multiple different types, intellectual disability and significant developmental delay, regression or plateau, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.
Other conditions, such as movement disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and behavioural, feeding and sleep problems, are common. Patients are treated with anti-seizure medication.
Lundbeck, headquartered in Valby, Denmark, is a biopharmaceutical company focusing exclusively on brain health. It has about 5,500 employees in more than 50 countries and products available in more than 80 countries.
