AMAG Pharmaceuticals hematology news
Chairman Michael Narachi said it was time to shift AMAG's focus away from a potential sale of the company in order to grow sales of anemia drug Feraheme ferumoxytol and pursue "business development opportunities." The announcement was concurrent with the hiring of William Heiden as AMAG president and CEO. AMAG markets Feraheme in the U.S. to treat iron deficiency anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. The I.V. iron replacement therapy had 2012 and 1Q12 net product revenue of $52.1 million and $13.6 million, respectively. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502, Osaka, Japan) has exclusive rights to ferumoxytol from AMAG in Europe, Canada, Turkey, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, China and Taiwan, while 3SBio Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRX, Shenyang, China) has rights in China. Late last year, AMAG retained Jefferies as a strategic advisor after saying it would restructure and evaluate strategic options, including a sale, merger, acquisition or licensing deal (see BioCentury, Nov. 7, 2011 & Nov 21, 2011). ...