Amarin to acquire Laxdale

AMRN will acquire neurology company Laxdale (Stirling, U.K.) for 3.5 million AMRN ADSs, which values Laxdale at $2.7 million based on AMRN's July 9 closing price of $0.78. Under a 2000 deal, AMRN licensed from Laxdale the U.S. development rights to Miraxion ( LAX-101), an inhibitor of phospholipase A2 and caspases to treat Huntington's disease. With the acquisition, AMRN will obtain European and Japanese rights to the compound, which has Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations and is under review in the EU. The company said it plans to start two Phase III trials in the U.S. early next year.

Results from a Phase III trial reported in November 2002 showed Miraxion did not meet the primary endpoint of improvement in TMS-4 scores in the intent-to-treat group compared to placebo. Subset analysis of the data showed the compound did meet the primary endpoint in a group of Huntington's patients with a specific gene variant. ...