The Medicines Company acquires Rempex Pharmaceuticals

PARSIPPANY, N.J.—The Medicines Company has announced its acquisition of Rempex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a San Diego-based pharmaceutical company developing new antibacterial drugs to address the issue of drug-resistant bacteria. Rempex equity holders received $140 million up front at the closing of the transaction. The acquisition also entitles Rempex equity holders to milestone payments, including development and regulatory approval milestones that could total $214 million, and commercial milestones worth $120 million. The transaction was unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors.

“The development stages of Rempex’s assets are optimally timed to complement our overall hospital solutions portfolio,” Glenn Sblendorio, president and chief financial officer of The Medicines Company, said in a press release. “The Medicines Company now has potential segment-leading assets in all three major stages: on the market, ready for market registration and in development in our three hospital treatment pathways: acute cardiovascular, surgery and perioperative and serious infectious disease care.”

The acquisition provides The Medicines Company with several anti-infective drugs and compounds, including Carbavance, Minocin IV, RPX-602 and a preclinical development program of novel investigational agents. Carbavance is an investigational agent from Rempex, a combination of a novel beta-lactamase inhibitor with a cabapenem for the intravenous treatment of hospitalized patients suffering from severe infections. Rempex has designed a class of beta-lactamase inhibitors that inhibit the Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPC) enzyme. That enzyme represents the primary resistance mechanism to carbapenems, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have classified KPC-producing bacteria as an urgent antimicrobial threat.

“Carbapenems are among the most potent and safe antibiotics, and are now regarded as one of the last lines of defense following worldwide dissemination of cephalosporin resistance. We anticipate that Carbavance will profile better than any antibiotic on the market or currently in clinical development for multi-drug resistant gram-negative infections,” said Michael Dudley, PharmD, senior vice president of Research and Development and chief scientific officer at Rempex.

Moving forward, The Medicines Company will be marketing Minocin IV, which is approved for the treatment of multi-drug resistant infections due to Acinetobacter, and plans to submit a novel, improved formulation of the drug for U.S. approval next year.

“We believe combining The Medicines Company’s outstanding track record of developing and commercializing innovative hospital solutions with the antibiotic drug discovery and development capabilities at Rempex creates a team that is ideally positioned to address the complex problems associated with multi-drug resistant infections,” Daniel Burgess, president and CEO of Rempex, commented in a press release. “The combined product pipeline has the potential to offer clinicians and patients a suite of innovative new antibiotic approaches to tackle many of the most vexing problems in infectious disease today. We are excited to begin working with our new colleagues from The Medicines Company on making this vision a reality.”

“Acute- and intensive-care hospitals around the world face rapid and increasing antibacterial resistance, especially to gram-negative pathogens. The assets of Rempex, particularly Carbavance, will allow us to intensify our efforts to save lives, alleviate suffering and contribute to the economics of healthcare by serving leading hospitals,” added Clive Meanwell, M.D., Ph.D., chairman and CEO of The Medicines Company.