By Randall Osborne

West Coast Editor

Having taken an almost 20 percent bite out of privately held Sensus Drug Development Corp. in 1999, Pharmacia Corp. came back to gobble the rest, under an option that was part of the original deal.

The option related to Somavert (pegvisomant), which is Austin, Texas-based Sensus' growth hormone receptor antagonist for acromegaly. Sensus reported positive Phase III data for Somavert just before Pharmacia - then Pharmacia & Upjohn - bought its first portion almost two years ago, and completion of the takeover follows last month's filing of a new drug application with the FDA, which has granted Somavert orphan drug status and tagged it for expedited review. (See BioWorld Today, June 17, 1999.)

For Pharmacia, the deal means a 3-cents-per-share charge in the first quarter, with no further impact on earnings for the year. No further details are being disclosed, said spokesman Paul Fitzhenry.

"We'll give some reference to the accounting treatment, in the first-quarter results," he said. The company has 1.28 billion shares outstanding.

Acromegaly is a life-threatening disorder caused by the overproduction of growth hormone, which boosts insulin-like growth factor one, leading to symptoms that include soft-tissue swelling, joint disorder and deformity of the teeth and bones. The disease can also be associated with diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Acromegaly afflicts about 15,000 people in the U.S. Cost per dose of injectable Somavert has not been established, Fitzhenry said.

"We're starting to look at that, but we're not yet ready to talk about it," he said.

Somavert also has been granted orphan drug status in the European Union and Japan. "Filings are under way there, but we haven't formally submitted them," Fitzhenry told BioWorld Today.

Pharmacia, of Peapack, N.J., already markets the human growth hormone Genotropin (somatropin) to endocrinologists, approved last year for the long-term treatment of growth failure in children with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes short stature, an involuntary, continuous urge to eat, low muscle tone and cognitive disabilities. The product was approved earlier for other indications.

"There's a fairly defined physician universe that we have pretty strong links with," Fitzhenry said. Future deals in the growth hormone market could happen, but Pharmacia is hardly limited there, he added.

"We say very generally that we're going to be opportunistic, that we're going to be looking for deals that strengthen existing customer channels," he said, noting that Pharmacia also has programs in ophthalmology, oncology and rheumatology. n