Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb to fund study of Portola's blood-thinner antidote

Portola CEO Bill Lis.

Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. will get an undisclosed amount of cash in a deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Pfizer Inc. to test its experimental treatment to reverse the effect of blood-thinning Factor Xa inhibitor drugs, the company said Thursday.

The antidote, called PRT-4445, is supposed to reverse the anticoagulation work of so-called Factor Xa inhibitors, including Eliquis from Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and South San Francisco-based Portola's betrixaban.

Going it alone, Portola raises $89M to work on blood thinner, antidote

Jilted by Merck & Co. earlier this year, Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that it will take its blood-thinning agent betrixaban into a Phase III trial on its own, thanks in large part to an $89 million preferred stock deal.
South San Francisco-based Portola also said the cash will be used to advance a companion antidote that reverses blood thinning for patients on so-called Factor Xa inhibitors, like betrixiban, who require surgery for major bleeds.
Portola plans to begin the Phase III trial of betrixiban in the first half of 2012.

The risks of eliminating drug risks

Metabolex Inc. closed three big diabetes drug deals last year, lining up millions of dollars in upfront cash and potential milestone payments.
But now, even as the number of U.S. diabetics skyrockets beyond 20 million, the privately held Hayward biotech company wants little to do with the disease.
Instead, it is focusing on arthritis-like gout, with a patient population of about 6 million.
“Gout is viewed well by investors,” Metabolex President and CEO Harold Van Wart said. “There’s a large unmet medical need, and Phase III trials are manageable.”
Therein lies the rub: As the Food and Drug Administration weighs the benefits and risks of drugs — especially in areas like diabetes, cardiovascular and obesity — it is asking companies to undertake extraordinary, some say excessive, additional clinical trials to prove that the drugs are safe. As a result, drug developers and their venture capital backers are abandoning those diseases — or biotech — altogether.

Executive Profile: Bill Lis of Portola Pharmaceuticals

Bill Lis joined Portola Pharmaceuticals in 2008, became chief operating officer in August 2009 and was named CEO in May 2010. A Philadelphia native, Lis previously worked at Scios, COR Therapeutics/Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Ethicon Endo-Surgery. He is one of many former COR employees, including several key scientists, to join Portola. The company last month struck a potential $553 million deal with Biogen Idec around so-called Syk inhibitors that play key roles in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Drug deal gives Biogen a stake in Portola Pharmaceuticals

Biogen Idec will license a family of drugs that could treat lupus or rheumatoid arthritis from Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $36 million cash and $9 million in Portola equity.
The agreement could be worth up to $508.5 million more in development and milestone payments.
The deal links two of the biggest biotech dealmakers of the past several years, South San Francisco’s Portola and Biogen Idec’s George Scangos. Portola has negotiated deals with Novartis AG and Merck & Co. (though Merck returned the anti-clotting drug earlier this year), while Scangos cut a number of licensing deals — albeit on the other side of the fence — as CEO of South San Francisco’s Exelixis Inc.

Scrappy Portola ready for new fight on blood thinner

In the street fight known as drug development, Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. just got bloodied.
Yet even as partner Merck & Co. ran away from the brawl — saying Thursday that it was returning the blood-thinning drug betrixaban to Portola — the South San Francisco company may be in a position to stanch the bleeding. It has about $100 million on hand, a Phase III-ready drug with solid Phase II data and a deep portfolio that includes an early-stage antidote that could quickly reverse the effects of blood thinners.
To hear Portola CEO Bill Lis, you’d think his company is in a scrappy mood. Portola, he said, even could pursue indications for betrixaban beyond prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation patients and stopping embolism after knee surgery, with or without a new partner.
“I think we want to take it forward by ourselves,” Lis said.

Merck returns anti-clotting drug betrixaban to Portola

An experimental blood-clotting drug for which Merck & Co. paid $50 million upfront two years ago will be returned to Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) said Thursday that it would give all rights for betrixaban, a Phase III-ready oral Factor Xa inhibitor anticoagulant aimed at preventing strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation, back to South San Francisco-based Portola. The companies said the decision was made after a review of Merck’s investigational drug portfolio.
Portola CEO Bill Lis cast the giveback as a “transformational opportunity.”

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