Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Japanese Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Corporation has acquired San Diego based Elevation Pharmaceuticals for $100m with additional $240m upon meeting product development milestones.
Elevation Pharmaceuticals, founded in 2008, is a privately held pharmaceutical company with an EP-101 aerosol medication for severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is currently undergoing clinical trials.
Sunovion will pay Elevation’s shareholders $100m upfront to aquire the firm, with an additional $90m if EP-101 achieves milestone targets as set out by Sunovion and a payment of up to $210m following EP-101’s regulatory approval and commercialization. Furthermore Sunovian plans to award Elevation up to $30m upon the development of successive new programs.
Sunovian’s portfolio already includes several pharmaceutical products aimed at treating respiratory ailments such as Xopenex, Xopenex HFA and Alvesco.
Hiroshi Nomura, Vice Chair of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc stated in a press release: “The acquisition of Elevation Pharmaceuticals will further strengthen and diversify our respiratory pipeline and portfolio, and enable Sunovion to continue to meet the needs of people living with respiratory diseases and the healthcare providers who treat them.”
Prior to Sunovion’s acquisition Elevation had already raised two rounds of funding. An extended Series A round took place between January 2010 to September 2011 raising a total of $47m and a subsequent $30m Series B round concluded in April this year. Venture capital firms Novo Ventures, Canaan Partners, TPG Biotech, Care Capital and Mesa Verde Venture Partners participated in both rounds.