Business Times, 1 May 2003
Local biotech firm sells IP rights for US$20m

By: Tang Weng Fai

Stent-coating intellectual property assets sold to US group

Local biotech firm, Biosensors International, yesterday said it had sold its intellectual property right assets in a key area of drug-coated heart stents to US-based Guidant Corp. for US$20 million. And more will be coming.

Guidant's US$20 million upfront payment gives it exclusive worldwide rights to use Biosensors' intellectual property in polymer and coating technology to apply drugs onto the metal surface of heart stents used in cardio-vascular surgery.

The acquisition also gives Guidant exclusive use of pre-clinical and clinical trial data associated with the study of the stent.

Commenting on the size of the deal for what is still a small local company, Loh Chee Mun, managing director at Biosensors, said, "Yes, we're small but the quality of research is what Guidant is looking at."

Mr Loh said most of the money will be ploughed back into basic research for the company's' other products.

He also raised the possibility that part of it will go toward rewarding key staff who developed the stent.

Further payments from Guidant are conditional on Biosensors reaching certain performance milestones. Mr Loh declined to elaborate on the total payment or the milestones to be met.

Biosensors has developed a heart stent coated with everolimus, an immuno-suppressant drug used to prevent organ transplant rejection.

The drug-coated heart stents are used in heart operations, such as angioplasty where a small balloon is threaded through a clogged artery to clear it.

The stent stays inside to hold the blood vessel open and prevent future clogging.

Coating the stent with everolimus reduces rejection risk and the need for additional surgery.

The acquisition of Biosensors' assets is of considerable urgency to Guidant, which sees its position as top supplier of stent in the lucrative US market threatened by a rival.

Cordis Corp.. a subsidiary of drug giant Johnson & Johnson, last week saw the US Food and Drugs Administration approve its competing product, estimated at US$3,000 each, according to the Associated Press. Heart stents are used on an estimated 800,000 patients a year undergoing heart surgery in the US alone.