Biogen Unveils Name for New Standalone Hemophilia-Focused Company: Bioverativ
August 9, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Biogen ’s new hemophilia drug spinoff company has a new name—Bioverativ. The new company will be a publicly traded entity and Biogen has plans for it to roll out in early 2017, the company said in a press release this morning.
Bioverativ will be focused on the discovery, research, development and commercialization of treatments for hemophilia and other blood disorders. The company will launch with two approved hemophilia drugs, Alprolix and Eloctate, which generated $500 million in revenue in 2015. Analysts have projected the two drugs could ultimately hit $1 billion in annual revenue. Both drugs were approved in 2014 for the treatments of hemophilia B and A, respectively.
Additionally, Biogen has also worked on delivery systems for hemophilia drugs. In December, Biogen struck a deal with startup Arsia Therapeutics, Inc. to develop a better system for delivering drugs subcutaneously, or under the skin, for hemophilia patients. The two companies are looking to develop a better delivery system than the current method of delivering the medication intravenously. One of the benefits of such a new delivery system would be hemophilia patients could administer the treatments at home, rather than having to go to a hospital or doctor’s office.
Bioverativ will be helmed by John G. Cox, Biogen’s former executive vice president of pharmaceutical operations and technology.
“As an independent and focused company, we believe that Bioverativ will be uniquely positioned to drive progress and advance the standard of care for people living with hemophilia,” Cox said in a statement. “Working closely with the hemophilia community, we hope to transform lives by accelerating innovation for people and caregivers living with hemophilia.”
Once the spin-off is complete, Bioverativ will continue development of Alprolix and Eloctate, including conducting studies to explore the potential benefits of Fc fusion technology on long-term joint health, immunogenicity and immune tolerance induction in hemophilia patients who develop inhibitors, Biogen said in its morning statement. Bioverativ will also focus on new pipeline programs to address unmet needs in hemophilia and other blood disorders. Part of that will include gene therapy programs and the use of Xten technology, a non-factor bi-specific antibody program to treat patients with hemophilia A. Bioverativ will also explore treatments for sickle cell disease.
Biogen has already begun to explore gene therapy treatments for hemophilia. In 2014, Biogen entered into a research deal with the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy to develop a durable treatment for hemophilia. The gene therapy research could dramatically change the way the disease is currently treated.
Following completion of the spin-off, Bioverativ plans to trade under the symbol BIVV on the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Earlier this year George Scangos, Biogen’s chief executive officer, told XConomy that Biogen’s hemophilia business had “no strategic alignment” to anything else the company was doing.
The spinoff of Bioverativ was announced in May and put to rest rumors the company, a leader in multiple sclerosis treatments, has been planning to unload its hemophilia business, which some have considered to be an anomaly amongst Biogen’s core pipeline of central nervous system and autoimmune disease treatments. But the decision to stay in the hemophilia market meant the company needed to make some strategic investments in not only its two existing drug products, but in future products as well, Scangos said in that interview.
Biogen said it will file the regulatory paperwork later this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.