CAMBRIDGE, England & BOSTON– Cycle Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Cycle) announces today completion of the acquisition of Banner Life Sciences, LLC (Banner) which includes its BAFIERTAM® (monomethyl fumarate) product for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), in adults, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
MS affects an estimated 1 million people in the US with around 200 new cases being diagnosed each week.1 Approximately 85% of diagnoses are the relapsing-remitting form of the condition and, without treatment, about 50% of those progress to the more serious secondary-progressive form within 10 years.1
BAFIERTAM will become Cycle’s second branded product for the treatment of MS alongside TASCENSO ODT® (fingolimod). As with TASCENSO, BAFIERTAM patients will benefit from Cycle’s industry leading hub program, Cycle Vita™*. BAFIERTAM patients will continue to be supported by Banner’s established network during a transition period.
The purchase of Banner was funded from cash on hand and demonstrates the capability of Cycle to reinvest in products where it can provide the highest quality medicines and support to patients who need it most. This acquisition comes at a time of increasing attention to the long-standing concern about the substandard quality of generic medicines in the neurology community2, as most recently documented in MS by Professor Darin Okuda (UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX).3
“We are delighted to strengthen Cycle’s offer to the MS community by adding BAFIERTAM to our MS product portfolio. We will be able to support more patients via our best-in-class patient support hub Cycle Vita*, as well as giving patients full confidence in the medicines they are using to manage their MS,” says James Harrison – CEO of Cycle.
Ondra LLP served as exclusive financial advisor to Cycle, Goodwin Procter LLP acted as legal advisor.
