PDL BioPharma Inc. is selling rights to its marketed product, IV Busulfex, to Japanese firm Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for $200 million in cash, as part of its ongoing plan to sell company assets.

The move comes two months after CEO Mark McDade stepped down from his position at the Redwood City, Calif.-based firm and board members opted to sell the company, either as a whole or as individual key assets. Analyst Joel Sendek, of New York-based Lazard Capital Markets LLC, called the Otsuka deal "favorable" for PDL, adding that the cash payment is "higher than our expectation" for IV Busulfex, an oncologic product marketed by PDL in the U.S. and Canada - and through partners in several countries outside North America - for conditioning prior to allogeneic hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation.

For the year ended Sept. 30, IV Busulfex sales totaled about $29.4 million.

After the deal closes, expected in the first part of next year, Tokyo-based Otsuka will market the product in the U.S. through affiliate Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc. The firm also intends to pursue other potential indications for IV Busulfex.

For PDL, the deal marks the first bit of promising news for a firm that has floundered since its lead antibody product, Nuvion (visilizumab), came to a halt in the middle of its Phase III program. An independent data review board said in August that results showed insufficient efficacy and an inferior safety profile and recommended discontinuation. Nuvion was being tested in patients with intravenous steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis. Earlier studies are evaluating the drug in Crohn's disease. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 30, 2007.)

Following Nuvion's Phase III disappointment, PDL initially planned to divest its marketed cardiovascular products and shift its focus from a commercial company to a development-stage firm. Prompting from company shareholders, however, convinced the board to put the whole company up for sale.

Besides IV Busulfex, PDL has Cardene and Retavase on the market. All three of those products were acquired through its March 2005 buy-out of Edison, N.J-based ESP Pharma Inc. The company also has ularitide, a synthetic form of natriuretic peptide, which is in Phase II development in acute decompensated heart failure, and volociximab, an anti-alpha5beta1 integrin antibody in Phase II trials for solid tumors.

Shares of PDL (NASDAQ:PDLI) closed at $17.65 Monday, down 18 cents.