Corporate Overview
We are a development stage company with expertise in recombinant protein drug development. Our corporate office is located in Richmond, Virginia.
On February 12, 2009 we announced that we had entered into a definitive agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. whereby Merck, through an affiliate, would purchase all assets related to our follow-on biologics platform. On March 31, 2009, we completed the sale of these assets for an aggregate purchase price of $130 million. After fees, taxes and other costs related to the transaction, we expect net proceeds of approximately $123 million as a result of this transaction.
As part of this transaction, Merck assumed the lease of our Boulder, Colorado-based manufacturing facility and acquired ownership of all the equipment in the building. In addition, upon closing of the transaction, Merck offered positions to employees of the Boulder facility. We retain our Richmond, VA corporate office, which houses our Clinical, Regulatory, Finance, and Administrative functions, in support of the continuing IPLEX™! program. Following the sale of our follow-on biologics assets, we plan to continue to support our proprietary protein platform and our product, the FDA-approved IPLEX™, which is in various stages of development for a number of serious medical conditions including Myotonic muscular Dystrophy ("MMD"), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ("ALS"), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and Retinopathy of Prematurity ("ROP").
We have also engaged the services of RBC to act as financial advisor in evaluating other options for use of these proceeds which could include acquisitions of complimentary businesses or technologies, product licensing, mergers, share repurchase and the distribution of a portion of the proceeds to shareholders.
Focusing on Markets with Unmet Needs
Some of the biggest advances in science over the last century have occurred in the development of pharmaceuticals. Diseases which once terrified millions upon millions of people in the world have been held in check or in some cases completely eradicated because of the great work of some of the world's pharmaceutical corporations.
But at Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ: INSM), we asked a couple of simple questions: Is there a way that medicines can be introduced into the marketplace more efficiently and at less cost? Of course.
And meanwhile, what about those diseases that don't affect "millions upon millions" of people? What about those people who may be one of 200,000 patients who suffer from a relatively rare condition? Is their suffering less meaningful because their conditions are more rare? Is their need for safe and effective medicines any less real? Of course not.
This is why at Insmed our unique vision emphasizes a dual strategy: a) expediting the process for bringing lower cost follow on biologic drugs to market and b) developing safe and effective medicines for those conditions in which needs are currently unmet.
Insmed develops medicines to address the uncommon needs
We applaud our industry colleagues who are attempting to tackle more common diseases; these conditions certainly require many brilliant minds working on their solutions. However, at Insmed our strategic focus is on the areas where patients needs are presently unmet, as our science and protein manufacturing capabilities enable us to efficiently and effectively target smaller patient populations. A testament to our focus is our success in gaining orphan status for our lead product, IPLEX™. Orphan status is granted by the FDA for drugs which serve patient populations of under 200,000 in the US. At present we have been successful in gaining this unique designation for three specific indications for IPLEX™ in Growth Hormone Insensitivity Syndrome, Severe Insulin Resistance and Severe Burn Injury.
FDA approves IPLEX™ in December, 2005
Each year, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) reviews hundreds of drugs to consider them for approval. Insmed's lead product, IPLEX™, was approved in December 2005 for the treatment of growth failure in children with severe primary IGF-I deficiency (Primary IGFD) or with growth hormone (GH) gene deletion, who have developed neutralizing antibodies to GH., one of only 22 medicines approved by the FDA that year. Now IPLEX -- a composition of recombinant human IGF-1 and IGF binding protein 3 - is being studied as a treatment for several serious medical conditions, including two neuromuscular disorders, Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy (MMD) and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease); HIV- Associated Adipose Redistribution Syndrome (HARS); and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). The chart shown in the Products and Pipeline section reflects IPLEX's progress through the FDA's rigorous testing phases. If you'd like further information about IPLEX or its testing protocols feel free to contact us.
Insmed keeps pushing forward
But Insmed isn't content to rest on its achievement laurels. Insmed has other products in the pipeline, specifically developing novel products for the treatment of cancer. rhIGFBP-3 and INSM-18 are promising potential novel treatments for a variety of cancer types. Preclinical models demonstrate that both treatments interact with the IGF system to reduce tumor growth.
Please revisit us here at this site for future updates on our progress with these products.
