Shire To Acquire Ferrokin Biosciences

To bolster its hematology business, Shire, the Dublin-based biopharmaceutical company, has agreed to acquire FerroKin BioSciences for an up-front payment of $100 million. Shire is interested in San Carlos, Calif.-based FerroKin’s iron chelator, FBS0701. “There remains a significant unmet need for a once-a-day, oral iron chelator in a convenient dosage for the treatment of transfusional iron overload with a better safety profile than currently available treatments,” says Ross Murdoch, senior vice president of hematology at Shire. The companies plan to file new drug applications for FBS0701 to treat myelodysplastic syndrome and hemoglobinopathies. FerroKin stands to earn clinical and regulatory milestone payments of $225 million.