Acacia Pharma Group is set to be acquired by Eagle Pharmaceuticals, with all share capital being transferred to Acacia at over €94 million, or €0.90 per share.
Acacia is headquartered in the U.S. but has its R&D operations in the UK. The agreement is governed under the UK’s Companies Act 2006.
Eagle pharmaceutical has experience in manufacturing, commercial and R&D. The company aims to create innovative drugs that can help improve patients’ lives. Some of these drugs include Bendeka, ryanodex and Pemfexy. In addition to these commercial drugs, the company has a critical care pipeline for treatments of the central nervous system.
Acacia Pharmaceutical is primarily focused on the development of upcoming products for patient care. The company develops products for those patients that are undergoing treatment for major ailments, such as chemotherapy or invasive surgery.
The proposed agreement also outlines for Eagle Pharma to guarantee over €20M of debt within Acacia.The transaction for the acquisition is expected to go through board approvals and then close in the second quarter of this year.
Through the agreement between the companies, Eagle pharma will be able to drive the uptake of its two hospital products that are for acute care. These are Barhemsys and Byfavo.
Barhemsys is an FDA approved antiemetic which is the first of its kind, and only available treatment for postoperative nausea and vomiting. In clinical trials, administration of the drug allowed for shorter hospital stays and reduced post-anesthesia care in patients. The estimated market for this drug is over $2.5 billion.
Byfavo is a sedation drug for adults, a sector that has not had innovation in over two decades. The drug is administered for short procedures that last upto 30 minutes. In clinical trials the drug showed efficacy even in challenging patients undergoing procedures such as colonoscopies. Byfavo is aimed at the approximately half a billion strong U.S. market for short term sedation.
The CEO of Eagle Pharma commented “We are delighted to announce that we have agreed to terms for the proposed acquisition of Acacia Pharma. This will be a very important acquisition for us, both financially and strategically. We therefore believe that Eagle is well suited to drive uptake of these two new products, building from Acacia Pharma’s established foundation since its launch, through our experienced and specialized hospital-based sales organization with minimal additional infrastructure.”
The CEO further added that while pharma companies have seen slow uptake of products during the COVID-19 pandemic it is due to being underfunded and Eagle has the financial muscle as well as strategic vision to ensure faster uptake of its NCE drugs.
The company aims to grow its share in the hospital treatment market through the launch of Byfavo, Barhemsys and another developing drug Landiolol. A representative of Eagle Pharma added that both Barhemsys and Byfavo are catering to a market that has its clinical needs currently unmet. Through the two drugs, precision medicine can be developed further and patients undergoing medical treatments, such as invasive surgery can be helped.
Eagle pharma has plans to increase its salesforce to help the commercialization of Byfavo and Barhemsys, building on Acacia’s acquired infrastructure.
Through Eagle pharma’s acquisition of Acacia it will be able to make an investment in value creation in the hospital product sector. Earnings from the deal are expected to grow steadily from 2024.
The progress of the agreement is currently dependent on approvals, both from shareholders and from the UK. government.
