Protiva, Tekmira, Alnylam, Roche deal
Tekmira will acquire Protiva for 22.8 million shares valued at C$19.84 million (US$19.4 million) based on Tekmira's close of C$0.87 on March 31, the day before the deal was announced. Tekmira shareholders will own 48% of the combined company, and Protiva shareholders will own 44%. The remaining 8% will be split equally between Roche and Alnylam, each of which will invest $5 million at C$2.40 per share. The deal ended all outstanding litigation between Tekmira and Protiva, including contractual issues and rights to IP covering the lipid delivery of siRNA. Both companies were spun out of Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Burnaby, B.C.), which is now a shell company (see BioCentury, Feb. 12, 2007).
The combined company's lead internal candidate will be Tekmira's TKM-0167. Tekmira plans to submit an IND for the liposome-encapsulated oligonucleotides to treat cancer this year. Protiva's ApoB SNALP, an siRNA against ApoB mRNA encapsulated in liposomal stable nucleic acid lipid particles (SNALP), is expected to begin a Phase I trial to treat hypercholesterolemia in 1H09. ...