Takeda to Acquire Inviragen

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inviragen, Inc. for an upfront payment of $35 million, and future payments of as much as $215 million for clinical development and commercial milestones. Inviragen, headquartered in Fort Collins, CO, with facilities in Madison, WI and Singapore, specializes in the development of vaccines for emerging infectious diseases, including dengue and hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).
 
Inviragen’s lead candidate, DENVax, is a four-strain recombinant viral vaccine for the prevention of dengue infection, and is currently being evaluated in Phase II trials. Inviragen’s pipeline also contains a vaccine candidate to protect against hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), which has completed Phase I testing, and a recombinant vaccine candidate to protect against chikungunya, currently in preclinical development.
 
“Takeda has taken another major step toward its goal of establishing a world-class global vaccine business by acquiring Inviragen and its advanced vaccine candidate against dengue, a serious mosquito-borne illness that threatens nearly half of the world’s population,” said Rajeev Venkayya, M.D., executive vice president and head of Takeda’s Vaccine Business Division. “Today’s announcement reinforces Takeda’s commitment to develop innovative vaccines to fight some of the world’s most important infectious diseases.”