West Coast Editor

Versicor Inc. said it extended a pair of unrelated deals - one with Novartis AG for antibacterials and one with Pharmacia Corp. for antibiotics.

"These are our two major deals," said Dov Goldstein, chief financial officer of Fremont, Calif.-based Versicor, noting the firm has two injectable lead products outside both of the agreements, but the deals involve oral products.

"We need a larger sales force, but [we're getting] larger markets as well," he said. "Now, with the Pfizer acquisition, we have the Pfizer sales force. We're pretty excited." New York-based Pfizer Inc. said earlier this week it plans to buy Pharmacia for $60 billion in stock. (See BioWorld Today, July 16, 2002.)

The potential $38 million deal with Novartis, of Basel, Switzerland, was struck in April 1999, and focuses on antibacterials that inhibit deformylase and the Mur pathway. Less than a week later came the $30 million agreement with Peapack, N.J.-based Pharmacia, targeting oxazolidinones, a new class of antibacterials. (See BioWorld Today, April 2, 1999, and April 6, 1999.)

In the Novartis deal, centered on peptide deformylase inhibitors and extended for another year, in vivo active molecules are undergoing further preclinical development at Novartis and could enter clinical trials in 2003. The drugs target an enzyme present in bacteria but not in human cells.

Novartis has access to Versicor's anti-infective technology in peptide deformylase inhibitors, as well as licenses to specific targets, assays and compounds. The Swiss firm will optimize drug candidates identified through Versicor's assays and conduct preclinical testing. Novartis would commercialize products, paying Versicor milestones on royalties and sales.

In the oxazolidinone agreement with Pharmacia, which has been extended for three years, the companies report that several lead compounds are being evaluated as potential Phase I trial candidates. Pharmacia's Xyvox (linezolid), launched in 2000, is the first drug of the new class of antibiotics to be approved by the FDA. Oxazolidinones are effective against a broad range of multidrug-resistant, Gram-positive pathogens.

Goldstein declined to say how much had been gained from each collaboration so far.

"We'll put out earnings in another two weeks," he said. As for the cash position, the company had $53 million before it raised $44.9 million in a private placement this spring.

"So we've got those two added together, less $2 million to $3 million for bankers' fees, less our quarterly burn rate," Goldstein said. "We've told analysts our burn rate is $40 million for the year."

Versicor, which went public two years ago in an offering that grossed about $58 million, has its lead product, V-Echinocandin (anidulafungin), in Phase III trials studying efficacy, safety and tolerability for the treatment of esophageal candidiasis, a fungal infection that causes morbidity in patients with compromised immune systems. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 4, 2000, and March 23, 2001.)

"We have two other trials with the lead drug," Goldstein said. One is a Phase II study in invasive candidiasis, and the other is a Phase III study in aspergillus that started in December.

"That's a longer study, 18 to 24 months," he said.

Thomas Dietz, analyst with Pacific Growth Equities in San Francisco, predicted approval and launch of the lead drug in the last quarter of 2003.

The company also has dalbavancin in a Phase II study against bloodstream infections, which is expected to finish in the first quarter of next year.

"We've completed a Phase II trial in skin and soft-tissue infections, and we'll have results in the third quarter," Goldstein told BioWorld Today. Versicor got U.S. and Canadian rights to dalbavancin from Biosearch Italia SpA, of Gerenzano, Italy, and the Phase II study initiated in March is for treatment of bloodstream infections that are catheter-related. Dalbavancin is being developed as the first once-weekly treatment for Staphylococcal and other Gram-positive hospital infections. Dietz pegged approval and launch for the second quarter of 2005.

Versicor's stock (NASDAQ:VERS) closed Wednesday at $11.54, up 44 cents.