Acorda to add to drug pipeline

In a $10-million cash deal, Acorda Therapeutics Inc. in Hawthorne will merge its drug development subsidiary into a privately held pharmaceutical company that is developing a nasal spray treatment for seizures.

ATI Development Corp., Acorda”™s wholly owned subsidiary, will merge with Neuronex, Inc., based in Morrisville, N.C., with Neuronex continuing as the surviving corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acorda.

Neuronex is developing Diazepam nasal spray, or DZNS, as a rescue treatment for certain seizures, and will apply for a new drug application review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Acorda officials in the merger announcement said DZNS, as a treatment for epileptic conditions, would align well with the Westchester company”™s mission to develop and market drugs that restore and improve neurological functions in persons with multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and other nervous-system disorders. If approved for use by the FDA, Acorda expects to leverage its existing commercial infrastructure, including its specialty sales force, to support commercialization of the nasal spray.

Acorda made an initial payment of $2 million to Neuronex and agreed to pay up to an additional $1.2 million to fund some Neuronex research and development work before the merger closes.  Acorda will pay an additional $6.8 million at closing.

Acorda agreed to pay former equity holders of Neuronex up to $18 million when specified regulatory and manufacturing-related milestones for DZNS are achieved after the acquisition.  Former shareholders also will receive tiered royalty payments, ranging from the upper single digits to lower double digits, on worldwide net sales of DZNS products. The royalties will be payable on a country-by-country basis for 10 years after the first commercial sale of the product in a country or until a competing generic product enters a national market.

Neuronex holds patent and other licensing rights to DZNS from SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., a Korean holding company with U.S. offices in New Jersey. Acorda will pay SK up to $11 million as development and sales milestones for DZNS are achieved and mid-single-digit royalties on net product sales.

Acorda Therapeutics this year will move its corporate headquarters and laboratories and about 160 jobs to the Ardsley Park life science campus in Ardsley. The biotech company plans to create an additional 190 jobs at its newly leased 138,000-square-foot facility.