Molecular Biosystems Inc. Sells European Rights for Albunex
Molecular Biosystems Inc. has signed an $18-million agreement with a Norwegian pharmaceutical company in a deal that involves the sale of MBI’s stock and the licensing rights to Albunex, an ultrasound contrast agent.
Albunex is at least two years away from market, but MBI has hopes that it will find a multimillion-dollar niche. MBI was cleared to begin clinical tests by the federal Food and Drug Administration earlier this month and hopes to introduce it to the U.S. market in 1990.
Consisting of microscopic bubbles that deflect ultrasound waves, Albunex is administered intravenously in a non-radioactive medical procedure using ultrasound to show the movement of blood through the cardiovascular system. MBI says it is the only contrast agent that allows for real-time viewing of blood flow.
Under terms of the agreement, Nycomed A.S. of Oslo will pay $13 million to MBI in licensing fees for the exclusive right to test, manufacture and sell Albunex in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Nycomed had 1987 sales of about $200 million. Its best-known product sold in the United States is Omnipaque, a contrast agent used in cardiac X-rays.
Of the $13 million in fees to be paid to MBI, about $2 million will be taken by MBI as revenue in the fiscal year ending March 31, with the remainder spread out as revenue over the coming years in $750,000 quarterly increments, president Vincent Frank said Tuesday.
The addition of the revenue from the Nycomed license fees will push MBI’s revenue for the current fiscal year to between $4 million and $5 million, Frank said. Most of the MBI’s additional revenues this year are paid to MBI by DuPont Co. for contract research. As of yet, MBI has negligible revenue from product sales.
Besides the license fees, Nycomed is paying MBI $5 million, or $16.40 per share, for 300,000 shares of new MBI stock, a 3.2% stake. Nycomed also received warrants to buy an additional 300,000 shares at $21.31 per share by 1993. Molecular Biosystems shares closed up 25 cents at $14 per share in Tuesday over-the-counter trading.
MBI’s license agreement with a European company such as Nycomed relieves it of the considerable expense of funding clinical tests of Albunex in Europe, Frank said, adding that those tests will take Nycomed more than two years to complete. Nycomed will pay MBI a royalty of up to 12% of gross sales of Albunex.
