Cipher Acquires Astion Dermatology Assets

Cipher Pharmaceuticals has acquired worldwide rights to three products from Astion Pharma, a Denmark-based specialty pharma company. The three products are focused on inflammatory dermatological diseases: Dermadexin, Pruridexin, and ASF-1096.
 
Astion will receive an upfront payment of $6.0 million, and a subsequent $2.5 million upon regulatory approval and commercialization of Dermadexin or Pruridexin in the U.S. Additionally, the agreement includes approximately $31.5 million in payments based on clinical milestones, regulatory approvals, commercialization and sales milestones in the both the U.S. and other regions. Cipher expects to out-license the products to partners in certain other regions.
 
“This transaction strengthens our dermatology product pipeline and gives us two late-stage assets in Dermadexin and Pruridexin that target common, chronic conditions that are insufficiently addressed today,” said Shawn O’Brien, president and chief executive officer of Cipher. “We believe there is a sizable market opportunity for these products and aim to submit both for U.S. regulatory approval in the first half of 2015, followed by Canadian regulatory approval. We will also pursue an orphan drug indication in the U.S. for ASF-1096, a product candidate that has promise as a treatment for a highly disfiguring rare disease with no current cure.”