Har­mo­ny Bio­sciences buys small epilep­sy biotech for $35M, plus mile­stones

Rare neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­ease drug de­vel­op­er Har­mo­ny Bio­sciences ac­quired Epy­genix Ther­a­peu­tics and its pipeline of treat­ments for rare epilep­sy con­di­tions.

Har­mo­ny paid $35 mil­lion up­front, and could pay an­oth­er $130 mil­lion in de­vel­op­ment and reg­u­la­to­ry mile­stones, ac­cord­ing to a press re­lease. The deal al­so in­cludes sales-based pay­ments that could be as much as $515 mil­lion.

With the ac­qui­si­tion, Har­mo­ny adds the an­ti­his­t­a­mine clem­i­zole hy­drochlo­ride to its pipeline. Re­search from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San Fran­cis­co showed that the drug is al­so a sero­tonin re­cep­tor ag­o­nist with an­ti-epilep­tic ac­tiv­i­ty, Har­mo­ny’s chief med­ical of­fi­cer Ku­mar Budur said on an an­a­lyst call Tues­day.

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