Antisoma Acquires Cancer Drug Firm

Seeking to become a bigger player in the oncology arena, London-based Antisoma will pay $52 million in an all-stock deal to acquire Boston's Xanthus Pharmaceuticals. Antisoma says the purchase diversifies its pipeline through the addition of Xanafide, which is in Phase III trials for acute myeloid leukemia, and an oral version of fludarabine, currently under FDA review for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Xanthus also has a group of kinase inhibitors with non-oncology indications in preclinical studies. Antisoma plans to continue working on those drugs and then license them to help finance the Phase III trial of its lung cancer drug, ASA404.