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Getting Late Stage Products Early

 
• By Melanie Senior

Thanks to its speedy deal with Zentaris (a subsidiary of Degussa), two-year old discovery-based start up Ardana Bioscience has leaped into the clinic with a phase II product. Now it's planning more late-stage deals, hoping that investors who typically ignore early-stage companies will finance a commercially focused organization with a track record of in-licensing the right drugs.

When Ardana PLC was set up in July 2000 to commercialize work generated by the Medical Research Council (MRC)'s Human Reproductive Sciences Unit (HRSU) in Edinburgh (see "Ardana Bioscience Ltd.," START UP, December 2000 [A#2000900217]), it was always CEO and serial entrepreneur Simon G. Best's intention to turn the company as quickly as possible into a specialty pharmaceutical firm with marketed products. But the current environment, in which investors have little time—or money—for risky biotech plays that are still years from seeing any revenues, likely accelerated the process.

Paying €6.25 million ($6.1 million) upfront, with a further €21.75 million in potential milestones, to Zentaris AG, the biopharmaceutical division of Degussa AG , didn't quite bring Ardana a...

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