Alize Pharma II Acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Alizé Pharma II recently announced that a subsidiary of Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc has acquired 100% of its shares. This all-cash transaction closed in March 2016. The deal is valued at up to €18 million, including an upfront payment of €8 million and potential payments of up to €10 million related to regulatory milestones. The transaction did not involve the transfer of any employees from the Alizé Pharma Group to Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Alizé Pharma II was created in 2008. Prior to the closing of this transaction, its shareholders were TAB Consulting, Octalfa, CEMA, and Sham Innovation Santé. The company’s lead assets are pegcrisantaspase (Asparec), a PEGylated recombinant L-asparaginase from Erwinia chrysanthemi, and related intellectual property. In February 2012, Alizé Pharma II announced that it had licensed these assets to EUSA Pharma, which was subsequently acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

“We are very pleased with this transaction with Jazz Pharmaceuticals, following our productive collaboration under the license agreement. It is in line with our business strategy, which is to develop promising clinical assets and divest them to the industry, whilst ensuring the sustainability of our drug development team and organization,” said Thierry Abribat, Manager, TAB Consulting, President and Founder, Alizé Pharma Group. “I wish to thank our team, our board members, and our investors who have actively contributed to this project. We will pursue our efforts to further build and grow a successful group of biotech companies with increasing focus on endocrine and metabolic diseases.”

“On behalf of the Alizé Pharma board and investors, we would like to congratulate Thierry and his team for this achievement, bringing Asparec from concept to clinical-stage product, then partnering and divesting assets in a timely and effective way,” added Gilles Alberici, President of initiative Octalfa and board member of Alizé Pharma. “This transaction further strengthens our commitment to support the Alizé Pharma Group in its next stage of development.”

Alizé Pharma is a group of companies specialized in the development of innovative biopharmaceutical drugs, proteins, and peptides for the treatment of metabolic diseases and rare diseases. The group is managed by a team of drug development experts and by a board of directors with a breadth of international experience. Its business strategy is to advance programs based on medical innovation to the clinical stage and establish partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to secure both short and long-term revenue streams. Since its creation the group has raised over €15 million from private and institutional investors and has acquired and implemented three programs in three companies:

-Alizé Pharma SAS is developing AZP-531, a stabilized analog of unacylated ghrelin, a physiological gastrointestinal peptide. This program is in Phase II clinical development for the treatment of Prader-Willi Syndrome and has completed Phase I for type 2 diabetes.

-Prior to its acquisition by a subsidiary of Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc in March 2016, Alizé Pharma II SAS was focused on the development of pegcrisantaspase (ASPAREC), a new pegylated recombinant L-asparaginase in onco-hematological rare diseases.

Alizé Pharma III SAS has acquired exclusive worldwide rights on a family of new peptides with bone anabolic properties, to be developed in osteoporosis and other bone diseases. This I-HBD1 program is at the lead optimization stage. For more information, visit www.alz-pharma.com.