California; Pennsylvania: Montco Firm Working to Prevent HIV Is Sold

On Friday, Cellegy Pharmaceuticals Inc. of South San Francisco, Calif., said it would buy privately held Biosyn Inc. of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., to acquire a contraceptive gel being tested to prevent HIV transmission. The deal is valued at $30 million.

Two University of Pennsylvania researchers founded Biosyn in 1989 to develop a vaginal lubricant to prevent pregnancy and many STDs, including AIDS. Since then, Biosyn secured $50 million in grants and $18 million in investment to get Savvy, its microbicide gel, into late-stage clinical tests.

"Biosyn made a strategic decision to seek a business combination to better maximize the development of our pipeline," said Anne-Marie Corner, Biosyn's cofounder, president and CEO. Cellegy's "strong clinical and regulatory capabilities" and "strategic focus in women's health care makes them a perfect commercial partner for us," she said. Corner will become senior vice president of women's preventive health in the combined company and direct Biosyn's 20 employees, who will remain at the Huntingdon Valley facility.

With the deal, Biosyn acquires a product that is in two Phase III clinical trials in Africa for preventing sexual transmission of HIV. A different Phase III study, this one in the United States, tests the gel as a contraceptive. The companies said the product has also shown promise against other STDs, such as herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.

A successful HIV vaccine "appears to be at least 10 years away," said K. Michael Forrest, Cellegy's president and CEO. In contrast, the Biosyn product could be on the market by the end of 2007, the companies said. Biosyn has two other HIV product candidates. Cellegy, also a small company, is developing medicines for gastrointestinal disorders, women's health and sexual dysfunction. It has three products about to enter Phase III testing. Its lead product, the nitroglycerine ointment Cellegesic, treats pain from chronic anal fissures. It is sold in Asia, has been approved in Britain, and awaits U.S. regulatory approval.

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