Conatus Pharmaceuticals has decided to merge with a privately held San Diego biotech, Histogen, in an all-stock transaction.
Histogen boasts of its three potential products, including HST 001, or Hair Stimulating Complex (HSC), its lead drug for invasive treatment to treat male pattern hair loss. Besides this, HST 002, a human-derived collagen and extracellular matrix dermal filler, and HST 003- an extracellular matrix scaffold to treat articular cartilage defects, are the other products that the company is manufacturing.
Under the proposed all-stock transaction, Conatus will issue new shares to Histogen, whose shareholders would own 74% of the combined company. The investors of Conatus would hold the rest of the shares.
In a surprising move, Novartis has revealed the ceased development of a generic drug of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair.
The decision came after Novartis has spent a hefty amount as well as years on the development of the copy of Advair, approved for the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The decision of Novartis to back out from developing the generic has proved to be good news for other pharma companies like Hikma/Vectura leaving Mylan, a sole strong contender in the market.
The drug has faced the dejection from FDA before, and the company now claims the shelving of the drug to be data-driven instead of fear of suffering another rejection. Other companies in the field of developing generics should take a lesson from this and be well-armed for the long journey of getting their drug an OK from the FDA.
