One way that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) is seeking to expand its brand drug product lines by investing in other companies. The investments are usually fairly small, and Teva does not buy control in the companies that it invests in.
On Friday, Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMEX: RNN) announced that Teva would make a $3.5 million equity investment in the company as part of a licensing agreement for its novel anti-cancer compound, RX-3117. Rexahn has a market cap of $57 million.
RX-3117 is a small molecule has the potential for treating a number of cancers, including colon, lung and pancreatic cancer. Rexahn will be eligible to receive additional development, regulatory and sales milestone payments, and will receive royalties on net sales worldwide. Teva may also make an additional equity investment in Rexahn within the next 12 months.
Teva Innovative Ventures VP Dr. Aharon Schwartz said, "We are very excited to forge this new relationship with Rexahn and have great hopes for RX-3117. Our agreement with Rexahn underscores Teva's commitment to bolstering its innovative pipeline through licensing of promising compounds. With a focus on oncology, auto-immune and neurology, Teva Innovative Ventures seeks partnerships with companies and academia to develop new specialty medicines."
Teva's share closed at $51.88 on Nasdaq on Friday. The share rose 0.5% by mid-afternoon on the TASE today to NIS 194.40.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 21, 2009
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