Lundbeck and Longboard Pharmaceuticals have announced an agreement for the Danish pharmaceutical company to acquire all outstanding shares of Longboard, in a transaction valued at $2.6 billion in equity value. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.
The deal will give Lundbeck ownership over Longboard’s pipeline of drug candidates for neurological and rare diseases. The lead asset, bexicaserin, is in late-stage development for the treatment of developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), a group of severe epilepsies with onset in early childhood that affect over 220,000 people in the US alone.
“This transformative transaction will become a cornerstone in Lundbeck’s neuro-rare franchise, with a potential to drive growth into the next decade. Bexicaserin addresses a critical unmet need for patients suffering from rare and severe epilepsies, for which there are very few good treatment options available,” said Charl van Zyl, President and CEO of Lundbeck.
The acquisition of Longboard will expand Lundbeck’s drug development pipeline, which focuses exclusively on therapeutic products for brain diseases, ranging from migraines to Parkinson’s. In particular, Longboard’s small molecule drug candidates are designed to selectively target G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the most successful class of druggable targets in the human genome.
In September this year, Longboard initiated a phase 3 clinical trial evaluating its lead asset, bexicaserin, for the treatment of seizures associated with Dravet syndrome.
Cleveland Clinic describes Dravet syndrome as a rare type of epilepsy. Seizures usually start in the first year of a child’s life. In addition to frequent and varied seizures, children will experience lags in mental and physical development, with the possibility of many other symptoms. Medications help reduce the number and severity of symptoms.
Bexicaserin is an oral drug candidate with a next-generation super-agonist mechanism that targets 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) 2C receptors, a type of serotonin receptors that are linked to epilepsy. The drug candidate has a differentiated mechanism of action that targets 5-HT2C specifically, without impacting other 5-HT receptor subtypes such as 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B.
In preclinical and clinical studies, Bexicaserin has shown anti-seizure effects, with a best-in-class profile in Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and other DEEs. The drug has blockbuster potential in this area of high unmet need, with global peak sales expected to be as high as $2 billion.
“Longboard was founded to transform the lives of people living with devastating neurological conditions,” stated Kevin R. Lind, President and Chief Executive Officer of Longboard. “Lundbeck’s remarkable capabilities will accelerate our vision to provide increased equity and access for underserved DEE patients with significant unmet medical needs.”
