Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) (STO:SOBI), a specialised international biopharmaceutical company, announced on Thursday that it has completed the acquisition of the newly established company owning emapalumab and related assets, following approvals from relevant competition authorities.

This acquisition had a consideration of CHF515m, of which CHF400m was previously committed in the exclusive licence agreement for emapalumab. The transaction is debt-financed by the company, with new credit facilities made available by BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken and Svenska Handelsbanken.

Sobi expects the acquisition to be earnings neutral in 2019.

As a result of this acquisition, the exclusive licence agreement with Novimmune will be superseded.

Through this acquisition of emapalumab, Sobi gains access to all assets relating to emapalumab including intellectual property, patent rights, data and know-how; all relevant and highly experienced employees involved in the clinical and biopharmaceutical development of emapalumab; as well as options for the shared financial rights to NI-1701 and NI-1801, two product candidates in the field of immuno-oncology and a priority review voucher within the US Food & Drug Administration's priority review programme, which offers companies investing in orphan drugs a cost reduction for the application fee for future products and shortens the review period. This voucher can be used or sold by Sobi.

Emapalumab was developed and submitted for approval to the FDA by Novimmune. Sobi acquired the global rights to emapalumab from Novimmune through an exclusive licensing agreement announced in July 2018, which is now superseded by this acquisition.

(EUR1.00=CHF1.1)