ALAMEDA, Calif., Dec. 18, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avigen, Inc. (Nasdaq:AVGN), a biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the company has sold the rights to its early stage blood coagulation compound, AV513, to Baxter Healthcare Corporation, a global leader in hemophilia therapy, for $7 million. Baxter acquired all rights to AV513, a compound poised for clinical research that has been shown to improve blood coagulation in preclinical models for hemophilia. Avigen has been developing AV513 as an oral therapy to treat patients with bleeding disorders, including hemophilia A.
"The sale of AV513 is an example of building value in a product that is differentiated from current therapies, and bringing it to a valuation point that generated a positive return on investment," said Kenneth Chahine, Ph.D., J.D., Avigen's president and chief executive officer. "Our team identified AV513 as a drug candidate with a novel approach for treating hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, and which offered strong IP potential in a target patient population with an unmet need. Because it was outside our neurology focus, it was our goal to follow a reasonable budget to establish AV513's value, and then move it to a better-resourced company with the expertise to develop a safe and effective therapy."
"This technology acquisition supports Baxter's efforts to research the application of novel technologies that will pioneer the next generation of hemophilia therapies," said Hartmut Ehrlich, M.D., vice president of global BioScience research and development for Baxter.
"Looking ahead, our objective is to identify opportunities that represent significant potential value for patients, while balancing our investment of resources and development risk in order to provide a significant and timely return to shareholders. Along these lines, we are also in the process of partnering AV411, our non-opioid glial-attenuator product for neuropathic pain and drug addiction," continued Chahine.
AV513 was first identified in 2004 by Avigen's vice president of Research and Development, Kirk Johnson, Ph.D., and colleagues, seeking an existing molecule with strategic characteristics for providing an alternative delivery approach for hemophilia therapies. Pre-clinical efficacy data in hemophilic mice was first published in 2006 in the medical journal Thrombosis & Haemostasis. Efficacy data from the study of an oral form of AV513 in other hemophilia A preclinical models was published in the journal Blood in 2007. Most recently, an in vitro study on AV513 pro-coagulant efficacy in the donated blood of human hemophilia patients was presented at the American Society of Hemophilia meeting in San Francisco on December 9th.
About AV513
AV513 is a drug candidate derived from a specific seaweed enriched for a particular type of non-anticoagulant sulfated polysaccharide denoted fucoidan, which has been shown to boost blood coagulation. Laboratory and preclinical studies indicated AV513's novel mechanism of action might improve the physiological "spark" for normal blood clot initiation by reducing natural anti-coagulation at local sites of bleeding and thereby allows more normal hemostasis, or clotting. Preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that AV513 has potential stand-alone utility and might act as an adjunctive or supplementary agent to boost clotting efficiency in combination with Factor VIII or Factor IX, the standard treatments for hemophilia A and B, respectively.
About Avigen
Avigen is a biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing differentiated products to treat patients with serious neurological disorders. Avigen's strategy is to identify, acquire and develop opportunities that represent a positive return to Avigen's shareholders. Avigen is currently developing AV411 for neuropathic pain, and, in collaboration with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, for opioid withdrawal and methamphetamine addiction. For more information about Avigen, consult the company's website at www.avigen.com.
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Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
The statements in this press release relating to Avigen's strategy, objectives and plans to identify, acquire and develop opportunities that represent a positive return to Avigen's shareholders are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, including the risk that Avigen will not be able to acquire or develop such opportunities due to monetary, intellectual property, technological or other constraints. In addition, there are many other risks and uncertainties inherent in the development of drug products. Other risks and uncertainties relating to Avigen are detailed in reports filed by Avigen with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Avigen's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, under the caption "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of Part I of that report which was filed with the SEC on March 17, 2008 and Avigen's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2008, under the caption "Risks Related to Our Business" in Item 2 of Part I of that report, which was filed with the SEC on November 10, 2008.