Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Greenburgh has acquired Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage private biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., in an all-stock transaction.
Progenics, a developer of drugs used in the treatment of cancer and related conditions, acquired all of Molecular Insight”™s capital stock in exchange for 4,566,210 shares of Progenics common stock, which amounts to 8.9 percent of outstanding company shares after the acquisition. Progenics also agreed to payments in cash or Progenics stock of up to $23 million to Molecular Insight”™s former owners for reaching certain drug commercialization milestones and up to $70 million for reaching specified sales targets for all Molecular Insight products.
Progenics officials in a press release said the acquired company has a drug pipeline of targeted radiotherapy and molecular imaging compounds aimed at enhancing treatment of prostate cancer and other cancers.
“This is a pivotal moment for Progenics as we advance our plan to become a preeminent oncology company,” said Progenics CEO Mark R. Baker. “Molecular Insight’s innovative small molecule compounds are an excellent complement to our internally developed oncology programs. This acquisition broadens our oncology pipeline, adding late-stage opportunities and targeting additional types of cancer while deepening our strategic focus on the PSMA (prostate-specific membrane) antigen, which shows great promise as an oncology target.”
Headquartered at 777 Old Saw Mill River Road on The Landmark at Eastview campus, Progenics Pharmaceuticals to date has developed one commercial product, Relistor, a drug injected in terminally ill cancer patients to treat constipation caused by opioid painkillers.
The company last fall cut more than one-fourth of its workforce and ended several research projects after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) withheld its expected approval and requested more clinical data for Relistor”™s longer-term use to treat the same condition in patients with chronic pain not caused by cancer.
The FDA response held up an expected $40 million milestone payment to Progenics from Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., which markets and is further developing Relistor.
Progenics in December reported netting about $23.3 million from a public offering of 12.65 million shares of common stock priced at $2 a share.
Progenics stock closed at $2.95 a share in NASDAQ trading on Jan. 23. Over the past year, the biotech stock sold at a high of $11.34 per share in April and dropped to a low of $1.42 per share in November.
