Millendo Therapeutics acquires French biopharmaceutical company
Millendo Therapeutics acquires Alize Pharma in stock-based transaction
Merger beefs up Millendo's congenital adrenal hyperplasia program
Alize Pharma is known for developing treatment for Prader-Willi syndrome
Millendo Therapeutics Inc. has acquired Alizé Pharma SAS in a stock-based transaction, the Ann Arbor-based biopharmaceutical company announced Wednesday.
The deal includes Alizé Pharma's facilities, operations and staff, which will handle research and development. Alize is a French biopharmaceutical company that creates treatments for metabolic and rare diseases. The drugmaker is known for livoletide, formerly known as AZP-531, for treating Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic condition that leads to intellectual impairment, diabetes and other problems.
Millendo Therapeutics President and CEO Julia Owens says the purchase beefs up its treatment program for a condition known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia and expands its presence in endocrinology.
"The acquisition of Alizé Pharma SAS transforms Millendo into an innovative endocrinology company with two first-in-class, late-stage clinical assets and a presence in both the United States and Europe," she said in a statement. "With livoletide, we have acquired a promising asset that has demonstrated encouraging efficacy and tolerability in a Phase 2 clinical trial in PWS."
Millendo Therapeutics will operate under the same name in the United States and do business as Millendo Therapeutics SAS in France and Europe.
Alizé Pharma's founder and President Thierry Abribat will become a board member of Millendo Therapeutics. Oliver Martinez of French investment bank Bpifrance and Gilles Alberici of French incubator Initiative Octalfa have been named board observers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.