BioWorld Today Correspondent

LONDON – Biotie Therapies Corp. is acquiring Synosia Therapeutics Holding AG in an all-share deal that values the private Swiss company at €93.6 million (US$120.95 million).

The combination, coming just three months after Biotie announced a major restructuring that saw its staff roster cut from 80 to 22, brings in six clinical stage central nervous system (CNS) products, including treatments for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and for bipolar disorder. Those will complement Biotie's leading product Nalmefene, an oral opioid receptor antagonist, which is in Phase III for the treatment of alcohol dependency.

"Through this transaction, we establish Biotie as a global leader in CNS drug development," said Timo Veromaa, CEO of the Turku, Finland-based company. The acquisition is "bringing together an outstanding pipeline and complementary drug development expertise," he added. The merged company will have nine clinical programs and operations in Finland, Switzerland and the U.S.

Biotie is issuing 161.5 million new shares to acquire Synosia. The €93.6 million value of the deal is based on Biotie's closing share price on the Nasdaq OMX market in Helsinki on Jan. 10 of €0.58.

Synosia is largely owned by venture capital backers, including Versant Ventures, Abingworth, 5AM Ventures and Investor Growth Capital. The Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB Pharma owns 19.6 percent following an equity investment of $20 million, made as part of a license agreement with Synosia worth a potential $725 million, for two Phase II Parkinson's disease treatments Syn-115 and Syn-118, agreed in October 2010.

The $20 million equity investment by UCB was part of a $30 million round, which brought the total raised by Synosia since its formation in 2005 to $100 million.

Biotie is expanding again within three months of a restructuring that saw it shed all but 22 of its 80 staff. Forty-three of these left as a result of the management buyout of the drug discory firm Elbion GmbH, of Radebeul, Germany, which Biotie acquired two years earlier for $34.2 million. Biotie retained one product, rimonolast, an oral phospodiesterase-4 inhibitor, and also holds a 20 percent stake in the newly independent company, which was renamed Biocrea GmbH.

Biotie's partner H. Lundbeck A/S reported positive results in two Phase III studies of Nalmefene last week. A third Phase III is ongoing and the product will be filed for approval in Europe in the second half of this year.

Veromaa will continue as president and CEO of the merged company, with Synosia's CEO Ian Massey becoming chief operating officer and president of U.S. operations Bill Burns, until recently CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, will join Biotie's board, as will Guido Magni, of Versant EuroVentures, and Ismail Kola, of UCB, whobecame nonexecutive directors of Synosia when the deal with UCB was agreed.