Drug to earn Elan €5.7m

ELAN Drug Technologies (EDT) — the drug delivery arm of Irish pharmaceutical firm, Elan — stands to make nearly $8 million (€5.7m), before additional payments, from its manufacture of a new multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment for US pharma firms, Acorda Therapeutics and Biogen.

The Athlone-based EDT operation already developed the drug, Fampridine-SR, in the US for Acorda. It will now manufacture the drug internationally, after Biogen (which also separately partners Elan on its MS treatment, Tysabri) signed a licensing agreement to commercialise the drug outside the US.

Acorda will be paid an initial $110m for the licence, with additional payments of up to $400m due, depending on future sales milestones. Of that initial payment, EDT will receive $7.7m and will qualify for further payments down the line, on the treatment reaching certain sales targets.

A sale of EDT is still thought likely, as part of Elan’s ongoing overall strategic review. Although a number of big international pharma companies have been linked with potential takeover bids for the Irish company (most recently, Novartis, earlier this week) Elan has repeatedly refused to comment.

It is due, however, to update the market when it holds its AGM at Dublin’s Davenport Hotel in two weeks time.

Meanwhile, Biogen Idec has also announced the termination of the development of another potential MS treatment it was working on with Brussels-based bio-pharmaceutical company UCB. The treatment, which was going under the developmental stage name of CDP323, had been undergoing phase II trials, but these did not demonstrate an adequate standard.

No cases of rare brain disease PML — which has been prevalent in some users of Tysabri — were found in users, but the removal of the drug is likely to see Biogen’s dependence on Tysabri’s good performance increase.

“Given the perceived association PML continues to have with Tysabri, balance needs to be restored in the risk/benefit perceptions of investors on this issue,” Davy Stockbrokers’ Jack Gorman said yesterday.

Elan’s share price, in Dublin, fell by 1.64%, or 8c, to close at €4.79, yesterday.