Drugmaker Led by Ex-CEOs of Pfizer, Celgene Buys Three Painkillers

By Anne Steele 

Pain treatment maker Centrexion Therapeutics, founded by former chief executives at Pfizer Inc. and Celgen Corp., agreed to acquire three new painkilling candidates from Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH in a bid to expand its proprietary pipeline.

Financial terms weren't disclosed in the deal for nonopioid and nonsurgical chronic pain treatments.

Centrexion, which started in late 2013, is led by former Celgene Corp. Chief Executive Sol Barer, who chairs the company's board, and former Pfizer Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler, who serves as the company's chief executive officer. The Baltimore-based company has raised $58 million to date.

The biopharmaceutical company studies its therapies in companion animals with the same naturally-occurring pain-causing disease conditions as humans, and works on parallel tracks to develop human and veterinary treatments.

Mr. Kindler said Centrexion was created out of "the tremendous need for safe, non-habit-forming and effective treatments for chronic pain" and that the acquisition of three of Boehringer Ingelheim's "most promising pain treatment candidates strengthens our existing proprietary pipeline."

The deal comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is pushing the industry to develop pain medicines that are more difficult or less rewarding to abuse.

Mr. Kindler led Pfizer during some of the company's most difficult times, including its $68 billion takeover of rival Wyeth and the company losing patent protection for its top-selling drug, Lipitor. He retired in 2010 at age 55, saying he was worn out after leading the drugmaker for 4 1/2 years.

Mr. Barer, a former scientist, is recognized for helping to build Celgene into a drug giant, currently valued at $78 billion. Mr. Barer, born in a displaced persons camp in Germany following World War II, was there at Celgene's beginning in 1986 and left as chief executive in 2010. Over that time, he played a key role in developing the blood-cancer treatments Thalomid and Revlimid.

Centrexion's proprietary pipeline consists of the first and only injectable analgesic capsaicin, known as trans-capsaicin, which is currently being evaluated in clinical trials for the treatment of pain associated with chronic conditions.

Boehringer Ingelheim, meanwhile, is shifting its focus to key central nervous system symptom domains across neuropsychiatric diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and depression.

Write to Anne Steele at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2016 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)

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