Jazz Pharmaceuticals buys Alize Pharma II for €18m

Dublin, Ireland-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals has bought Alizé Pharma II, a member of the French Alizé Pharma Group for €18m.

The deal includes an upfront payment of €8m and potential payments of up to €10m related to regulatory milestones. It does not involve the transfer of any employees from the Alizé Pharma Group to Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Alizé Pharma II was created in 2008 and prior to the closing of this transaction its shareholders were TAB Consulting, Octalfa, CEMA and Sham Innovation Santé.

The company’s lead assets are pegcrisantaspase (Asparec), a PEGylated recombinant L-asparaginase from Erwinia chrysanthemi, under development for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and related intellectual property.

In February 2012, Alizé Pharma II licensed these assets to EUSA Pharma, which was subsequently bought by Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

'We are very pleased with this transaction with Jazz Pharmaceuticals following our productive collaboration under the licence agreement. It is in line with our business strategy, which is to develop promising clinical assets and divest them to the industry, while ensuring the sustainability of our drug development team and organisation,' said Thierry Abribat, Manager, TAB Consulting, President and Founder, Alizé Pharma Group.

'I wish to thank our team, our board members and our investors who have actively contributed to this project. We will pursue our efforts to further build and grow a successful group of biotech companies with increasing focus on endocrine and metabolic diseases.'