Ipsen, Inspiration Pharmaceuticals to develop hemophilia franchise

PARIS Despite its rarity, occurring in 1-in-5,000 to 1-in-25,000 male births, hemophilia can be a debilitating condition for patients, with about 60% having severe forms of the condition. But two companies will collaborate to develop treatments for the disease.

Ipsen and Inspiration Pharmaceuticals announced Thursday that they would work together to create a hemophilia franchise whose sales could exceed $1 billion by 2020. Ipsen will acquire an initial 20% stake in Inspiration for $85 million, with the potential to acquire an additional 27% through additional milestone payments of up to $174 million.

The deal includes an in-licensing of Ipsen’s investigational drug OBI-1 and Inspiration’s IB1001, both recombinant protein drugs that will enter phase 3 clinical trials this year. Ipsen will sublicense OBI-1 to Inspiration for $50 million in convertible notes and a 27.5% royalty on future sales of the drug while providing up to $259 million in funding to the company.

“Inspiration has both a strong development experience and a broad pipeline that will provide the opportunity for new growth on our way to building a new, multi-product global franchise for Ipsen in hematology,” Ipsen chairman and CEO Jean-Luc Belingard said in a statement. “We are impressed by the track record of Inspiration’s management team in this field.”