威灵制药$10亿收购Sprout制药 将独揽女性伟哥“Addyi”生产权

  近日，美国威灵制药公司（Valeant Pharmaceuticals）将斥资10亿美元收购Sprout制药，Sprout制药（萌芽制药厂）是首次推出提高女性性欲的处方药的一家公司；这项收购协议将于美国监管机构批准药丸Addyi（flibanserin，氟立班丝氨）后两天开始，而Addyi的开发也具有里程碑式的意义，该药物可以有效恢复治疗女性的性欲问题。
  Sprout公司的CEO Cindy Whitehead周四回应表示，他还将继续管理公司，公司收购后将会成为威灵制药的一个部门。来自密歇根大学的研究者Erik Gordon表示，美国威灵制药公司并不是一个药物开发的公司，而只是一家药品营销的公司，但该公司以其它公司而出名。威灵制药的发言人表示，目前他们公司已经在去年推出了20多种产品，大部分都是自己的实验室研发的。
  数十年来，全球多个最大的制药公司都没有成功开发出和伟哥相当的可以提高女性性欲的药物，伟哥可以通过增加血流量来治疗男性的勃起功能障碍，但女性的性欲障碍被认为对伟哥耐受；Sprout公司开发的这种名为Addyi的新型女性伟哥则可以扮演大脑的化学物质来影响情绪和欲望，实际上早在2011年时德国制药商勃林格殷格翰(Boehringer Ingelheim)就开发出了此类药物，但当时FDA拒绝了该药物。
  这项对Sprout公司的10亿美元的收购或将增加该公司对其它生产女性性欲药物的多个小公司的兴趣，其中一个关键的公司就是Palatin Technologies公司，该公司主要致力于开发按需增强个体性欲的疗法，而相应的疗法似乎要优于Addyi的效果。
  药物Addyi的销售或许会因其强烈的警告标签及FDA的安全计划而受限制，警告标签告知医生和患者或许会出现低血压及昏厥等风险，尤其是当药物和酒精混合使用后。在安全计划下医生们在完成患者需要咨询的药物风险的相关认证后或将Addyi作为处方药来给予患者，而药剂师也将需要认证并且需要提醒患者该药物不能与酒精同时服用。
  下一步威灵制药计划花5亿美元关闭Sprout在北卡罗来纳州的分部Raleigh，而随后加拿大制药商将会在明年第一季度支付5亿美元。周四股市开始后不久威灵制药的股价下滑了2.9%。（转化医学网360zhyx.com）
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Valeant to spend about $1B on maker of women's libido drug
Valeant Pharmaceuticals will pay about $1 billion in cash to buy Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the maker of the first prescription drug intended to boost sexual desire in women. 
The deal comes two days after U.S. regulators approved the pill Addyi, a milestone for the drug industry that could revive interest in medications for women's sexual problems.
Founded by a husband-and-wife team, Sprout has aggressively pushed the case for their product for years, arguing in dozens of interviews that the Food and Drug Administration had unfairly overlooked women's sexual disorders. But the company gave no hint of plans to sell the drug to a larger company.
"After all their talk about women's health disparities, it's time for Sprout's founders to just take the money and run," said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.
Sprout CEO Cindy Whitehead responded Thursday that she would continue to lead Sprout, which will become a division of Valeant.
"I'm not going anywhere and am very excited to continue working with our 34 employees," Whitehead said in a statement.
Gordon and some other analysts predicted the buyout, noting that Sprout had only a few dozen employees in its Raleigh offices. Gordon said Valeant has the size and expertise to market the new pill.
"Valeant is not a drug development company, they are a drug marketing company," said Gordon. "They are famous for buying a company, closing down their research and flogging the product."
The Canadian drugmaker has traditionally grown through acquisitions of companies in the dermatology, eye health and neurology fields. The Sprout purchase expands Valeant's portfolio into women's health.
A Valeant spokesman responded that the company has launched more than 20 products in the last year, the majority of which came from its own labs.
For decades, many of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies tried unsuccessfully to develop a female equivalent to Viagra, the blockbuster drug that treats men's erectile dysfunction by increasing blood flow. But disorders of women's sexual desire have proven resistant to drugs that act on blood flow, hormones and other simple biological functions.
Sprout's drug acts on brain chemicals that affect mood and appetite. The drug was actually acquired from German conglomerate Boehringer Ingelheim in 2011, after the FDA initially rejected the drug.
The $1 billion price tag for Sprout is likely to boost interest in a handful of other small drugmakers pursuing women's libido drugs. The leading player in the field is Palatin Technologies, which is working on an on-demand treatment to boost sexual desire for several hours at time. That approach may be preferable to Sprout's Addyi, which is a daily pill with side effects including nausea, dizziness and fatigue.
Shares of Palatin rose 5 cents, or 5 percent, to $1.02 in trading Thursday.
Sales of Addyi are expected to be limited by a strong warning label attached to it and an FDA-imposed safety plan for prescribing. The warning will alert doctors and patients to the risks of dangerously low blood pressure and fainting, especially when the pill is combined with alcohol.
Under the safety plan, doctors will be able to prescribe Addyi only after completing an online certification process that requires counseling patients about the drug's risks. Pharmacists also will need certification and be required to remind patients not to drink alcohol while taking the drug......