Sosei revs up work with Heptares candidates, seeks partners

Japanese biopharmaceutical company Sosei is seeking partners globally to make use of last year's $400 million acquisition of U.K. biotech company Heptares Therapeutics.

With the acquisition, Tokyo-based Sosei has begun clinical testing with an experimental drug from Heptares to find early-stage treatments to diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, migraines and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the Daily News reported. 

Founder and CEO of Sosei Shinichi Tamura told Bloomberg that the biopharma company is aiming to repeat the success of previous deals, referring to AstraZeneca ($AZN), Novartis ($NVS) and Pfizer ($PFE).

With a 25% premium, Pfizer has agreed to purchase $33 million of new Sosei shares, and will have exclusive global rights of any candidates.

Hertfordshire-based Heptares, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Sosei, created a drug discovery pact with Pfizer surrounding G-protein coupled receptor targets, including payments of up to $189 million per target under R&D, regulatory and commercial milestones.

- here's the Daily News story

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