Rumor of Acquisition is getting real (SPPI, BMY, PFE, WYE, MRK, SGP, ALTI)

If you are a follower of the abundant rumors, predictions, and speculation that flows around the biotech industry you may have heard that Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI) may be targeted for acquisition by either Bayer Schering Pharma AG (BYERF.PK), or Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY). Whether this is true or not it’s just the icing on the cake when it comes to news regarding this pharmaceutical company lately. Spectrum has a huge amount of drugs and treatments currently in the pipeline, with Fusilev and Zevalin as their prospects for the immediate future. Fusilev is a treatment already approved to limit toxicity in bone cancer (osteosarcoma) patients undergoing chemotherapy. With the new FDA filling for the drug the company seeks approval for the drugs use on patients with colorectal cancer, a much more widespread condition. The PDUFA action date for the new application of the treatment is October 8, 2009. Fusilev has already been approved for this purpose outside of the U.S. bringing in nearly 200 million dollars for the company in foreign markets.

Spectrum’s other cancer drug Zevalin, also formerly approved, now awaits the green light to be used at a different stage of treatment. Zevalin is a radioimmunotherapy drug that was approved in 2001 as a last resort treatment for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), which afflicts an estimated 60,000 Americans a year. With a PDUFA date of September 7, 2009 Spectrum aims to get the drug approved as a first line treatment. The drug has already been approved for this in Europe with promising results, with marketing rights in all non-U.S. markets under Bayer. This is no doubt one of the facts fueling the rumor mill of a possible Bayer buyout of Spectrum.

News of an acquisition would not be surprising when current trends within the industry are taken into account. Pharmaceutical giants have been on a shopping spree buying up the little guys in an effort to remain profitable amidst pending patent expirations. A couple of examples of this being Pfizer’s (PFE) purchase of Wyeth (WYE), and Merck’s (MRK) acquisition of Schering Plough (SGP). Other recent news from Spectrum has Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. (ALTI) assigning their patent rights of the drugs Renazorb and Renalan over to SPPI. This move sees a more limited 2005 deal between the two companies become a permanent patent sign-over. Spectrum Pharmaceuticals is definitely on the move head on over to the FavStocks.com stock market forum to discuss where it is headed.