Boston, MA 04/21/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Zalicus Inc (NASDAQ:ZLCS) will merge with Epirus Biopharmaceuticals and become a subsidiary of Epirus that will work under the management of Epirus. The merged entity will trade at Nasdaq as a public listed company that focus only in the bio similar space.
Deal transaction
Zalicus will offer the following alternatives from the transaction to enhance its cash position.
- If Zalicus’ closing net cash is equal or more than $12 million – Existing Zalicus stockholders will own ~19%, and Epirus stockholders will own ~81%.
- If Zalicus’ closing net cash is equal or more than $9 million, but less than $12 million – Existing Zalicus stockholders will own ~17%, and Epirus stockholders will own ~83%.
- If Zalicus’ closing net cash is equal or less than $9 million – Existing Zalicus stockholders will own ~14%, and Epirus stockholders will own ~86%.
The shareholders’ will benefit from the deal depending on Zalicus Inc (NASDAQ:ZLCS)’s closing cash position that are likely to close in 2014.
New business
The new Company will focus to develop Epirus’s pipeline biosimilar products. It includes biosimilar of most popular medicines such as Remicade (BOW015), Humira (BOW050) and Avastin (BOW030). These products are well known monoclonal antibodies (MoA) and are used to treat different diseases.
Potential market
Janssen’s Remicade and AbbVie’s Humira are two leading product primarily used as first-line therapy against autoimmune diseases. It includes popular diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Both the medicines continue to drive the treatment market due to its premium price and limited alternatives for biologic products. Similarly, Roche’s Avastin is a MoA mainly used to treat a variety of cancers including lungs, breast, kidney, ovarian and colorectal.
Cheaper generics are available to treat autoimmune diseases; however, they are unable to create demand due to their efficiency. Therefore, biosimilars expect to fulfill the demand as a result of high efficiency and cheaper compared to available therapies. Biosimilars are the products mainly derived from the same source like other biologics (monoclonal antibodies) with limited trial process.
Conclusion
Zalicus Inc (NASDAQ:ZLCS) believes that the combined entity will have a strong portfolio of biosimilars pipeline that has a solid market potential to treat rheumatoid arthritis patients. The merged company with strong management will make create considerable worth for shareholders.
