Vaccines: Intercell Buys Iomai

Intercell has acquired Iomai for $189 million, in a deal motivated by the Austrian company’s desire to gain ownership of Iomai’s traveler’s diarrhea vaccine and transdermal delivery technology. With the potential to deliver both vaccine and adjuvant, independently, through Iomai’s transdermal patch, Intercell’s development of its proprietary adjuvant IC31 may also benefit from the technology.

Austrian vaccine manufacturer Intercell has acquired Gaithersburg-based Iomai Corp in a deal worth approximately $189 million, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

Intercell stated that one strong motivation for the acquisition was Iomai’s traveler’s diarrhea vaccine, which is based on the company’s proprietary needle-free patch delivery vaccine technology, and has shown positive interim Phase II efficacy data. The vaccine is expected to enter pivotal Phase III trials in the first half of 2009. If approved, the medical use of the vaccine will complement Intercell’s Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, for which a Biologics License Application was successfully submitted to the FDA in December 2007, and for which Intercell expects market approvals in the US, Europe and Australia in 2008. Together, both vaccines could create an extremely attractive traveler’s vaccine franchise, which would target a combined market opportunity of over $1 billion in sales per year, according to Intercell.

Iomai’s transdermal patch technology itself represents a further motivation for the deal. The company has not only tested its delivery method in clinical trials for various indications, but also indicated that the patch could be used for delivery of an adjuvant, independent of the vaccine. Following the delay in approval for GlaxoSmithKline’s adjuvanted vaccine candidate Cervarix, many experts believe that the FDA may require adjuvants to be approved independently of the accompanying vaccine. Intercell could, therefore, potentially benefit from Iomai’s technology. Its potential ability to deliver adjuvants without an accompanying vaccine could facilitate the route to market for Intercell’s proprietary adjuvant IC31, which forms an important part of the company’s vaccine franchise.

Datamonitor believes that this deal will strengthen Intercell’s portfolio and underlines the strong performance of the Vienna-based company in the vaccines market.