Eli Lilly to buy Philadelphia drugmaker for up to $800M

By Tom Spalding, The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — Drugmaker Eli Lilly intends to purchase Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a privately held company whose focus is helping doctors diagnose Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly (LLY) will acquire all outstanding shares of Philadelphia-based Avid for an upfront payment of $300 million, subject to adjustment based on existing cash on hand at closing.

READ: Lilly's release on purchase

Avid stockholders will also be eligible for up to $500 million in additional payments contingent upon potential future regulatory and commercial milestones for florbetapir.

A marketing application for florbetapir to treat Alzheimer's has recently been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"The acquisition of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals aligns well with Lilly's innovation-based strategy, offers a potential near-term revenue opportunity, leverages our neuroscience expertise and will immediately bolster our diagnostics capabilities," said John Lechleiter, Lilly chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. "We look forward to partnering with Avid's experts during the regulatory process for florbetapir, and are intent on gaining FDA approval for this promising diagnostic intended to help clinicians and researchers identify the presence of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain."

This is a gain for Lilly, which in August halted development of semagacestat, a drug being studied as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Lilly said a pair of late-stage clinical trials involving 2,600 patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's, a disease that causes progressive memory loss, showed symptoms worsened with their drug than a placebo.

Avid works on imaging compounds to help doctors spot signs of the memory-robbing disease.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... avid_N.htm