San Diego-based Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp. announced it will buy 3M Co.’s asthma inhaler technology for an undisclosed sum.
The company said it wants to use the new technology provide a generic alternative to the top-selling asthma medication on the market, GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Advair Diskus.
Adamis (OTCQB: ADMP) will initially license 3M’s Taper Dry Powder Inhaler and, with additional payment, acquire the rights to the technology. The Taper DPI can also be used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The Taper DPI inhaler was developed by 3M to compete with other dry powder inhalers, such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Advair Diskus, Adamis said. Global sales for Advair were about $7.8 billion in 2011, according to regulatory filings.
The global market for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prescription drugs was valued at $38 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow to $47.1 billion in 2017, according to Wellesley, Mass.-based market research firm BCC Research.
The licensing arrangement with 3M is a “blockbuster opportunity” with respect to such branded asthma and COPD drugs, Adamis President and CEO Dennis Carlo said
Adamis, founded in 2006, also markets epinephrine-filled syringes, a generic version of EpiPens. The company has a market capitalization of $57.6 million. Its stock dropped 11 percent following the August 6 announcement, trading at 55 cents per share at market close.
— Meghana Keshavan