By Tess Stynes
Pozen Inc. (POZN) and the U.S. unit of Sanofi (SNY) mutually
agreed to end a licensing agreement reached in September 2013,
under which France-based Sanofi had exclusive rights to
commercialize Pozen's aspirin therapies to treat gastric ulcers in
cardiovascular patients.
Shares of Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Pozen were at $7.35 in recent
early trading, down 17%. Sanofi's American depositary shares were
at $48.75, up nearly 1%.
As of Saturday, all licenses granted to Sanofi have been
terminated and all rights revert to Pozen. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration is expected to decide whether to approve the
treatments--which recently received conditional approval for the
brand name Yosprala-- on Dec. 30.
Pozen Chief Executive John Plachetka said that as the company
works with the FDA ahead of the expected decision that "the
clinical profile of the drug, as described in the current
FDA-proposed package insert, will meet or exceed the assumptions we
made when we started our development and evaluated the commercial
potential for this product."
Under the 2013 agreement, Sanofi had received exclusive rights
to commercialize Pozen's PA8140 and PA32540 tablets, which combine
immediate-release omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor, and
enteric-coated aspirin into one pill.
"Given that the target population for Yosprala could exceed 20
million patients in the U.S., we will be fully engaged in the near
term evaluating strategic options available to the company," Mr.
Plachetka said.
-- Nathalie Tadena contributed to this article.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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