G1 Therapeutics, a biotech firm based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, has successfully guided its innovative lung cancer drug, Cosela, to FDA approval. Cosela is uniquely designed not to treat cancer directly but to protect bone marrow by blocking CDK4/6 proteins during chemotherapy for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. This marks the first drug of this type to clear the FDA’s scrutiny.
Initially going public in 2017 with shares priced at $15, G1 has seen fluctuating success. However, a recent development saw its share price soar by 68% compared to the previous day, following the announcement of its acquisition by Pharmacosmos. This Danish company, based in Denmark and prevalent in the iron deficiency anemia treatment arena, valued G1 at $405 million with the acquisition price at $7.15 per share.
Cosela has shown promising market performance, generating $46.3 million in product sales in 2023, marking a 47.8% increase over the previous year. Despite this success, G1 has struggled to broaden the drug’s application beyond lung cancer effectively. The company had halted its development in colorectal cancer due to unfavorable preliminary Phase 3 results and discontinued a trial in metastatic triple negative breast cancer after it underperformed compared to controls.
Considering these development challenges and seeking to amplify Cosela’s global reach, G1 had always envisioned having partners. They collaborated with Simcere Pharmaceutical to commercialize Cosela in specific Asian markets and licensed another drug candidate, lerociclib, to Genor Biopharma for markets in Asia and Australia. However, partnerships for G1 have not always been fruitful; after acquiring EQRx, Revolution Medicines decided not to continue with the licensing agreement for lerociclib.
Pharmacosmos, founded in 1965 with a specialty in carbohydrate chemistry and a small portfolio including the FDA-approved iron deficiency drug Monoferric, sees the acquisition of G1 as a strategic move to broaden its presence in the cancer treatment sector. While Monoferric is already available globally, Cosela’s market is limited to the U.S. and China. Pharmacosmos CEO Tobias Christensen envisions this acquisition as an opportunity to accelerate the availability and adoption of Cosela internationally, addressing the side effects of myelosuppression faced by lung cancer patients post-chemotherapy.
In a letter to G1 employees, CEO Jack Bailey emphasized that Pharmacosmos’s acquisition would bolster Cosela’s global availability more swiftly due to Pharmacosmos’s extensive experience in supportive care. He reassured that the shared commitment and expertise in patient care held by Pharmacosmos would translate into enhanced access to Cosela, providing significant benefits to more patients sooner than could be achieved independently by G1.
The roots of G1 trace back to 2008 when it spun out from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, deriving from the research of co-founder Norman Sharpless. Originally named G-Zero Therapeutics, the company focused on developing protective treatments, including a pill for radiation exposure which had potential biodefense applications. The name was changed to G1 Therapeutics in 2012.
As the deal is anticipated to close by the end of the third quarter of this year, both companies’ boards have approved the transaction. This acquisition is not just a financial venture but a strategic move intended to enhance patient care and treatment accessibility on a global scale, leveraging Pharmacosmos’s established infrastructures and extensive experience in therapeutic products.
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