Horizon Pharma said today it has agreed to acquire Crealta Holdings for $510 million in cash, in a deal that expands and broadens the buyer’s orphan drug business.
The deal reflects Horizon Pharma’s long-range plan, which calls for orphan drugs to account for approximately 60% of net sales in 2020. The acquisition adds Crealta’s marketed KRYSTEXXA® (pegloticase), the first and only FDA-approved treatment for chronic refractory gout, to Horizon Pharma's offerings.
Since the biologic was approved in 2010, between 4,000 and 5,000 patients have been treated with KRYSTEXXA, Horizon Pharma said.
Crealta inherited KRYSTEXXA after acquiring Savient Pharmaceuticals for about $120.4 million, in a deal approved in December 2013 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Horizon Pharma noted that KRYSTEXXA enjoys intellectual property protection through 2027.
“We expect to expand the number of patients identified and treated with KRYSTEXXA. As with all of our orphan medicines, we plan to maximize additional development opportunities of KRYSTEXXA,” Timothy P. Walbert, Horizon Pharma’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement.
He added that the Crealta acquisition “further diversifies our portfolio of medicines and aligns with our focus of acquiring value-enhancing, clinically differentiated, long-life medicines that treat orphan diseases.”
Horizon Pharma said the deal will allow it to leverage its 41-person rheumatology sales force, currently promoting two company drugs: RAYOS® (prednisone), marketed for conditions that include rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis; and PENNSAID 2%, indicated for treatment of osteoarthritis knee pain.
The acquisition is expected to add $70 to $80 million in net sales, and $45 to $50 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in the first twelve months following closing, Horizon Pharma added.
The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including antitrust approval in the U.S. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.
Horizon Pharma announced its acquisition of Crealta on the same day it announced separately that it completed its roughly $1.1 billion acquisition of Hyperion Therapeutics announced in March—another transaction intended to grow Horizon’s orphan drug portfolio.
