Irvine-based drug maker Allergan Inc. could soon add another entry to its growing lineup of migraine headache treatments.
Allergan and Mountain View-based Map Pharmaceuticals Inc. are working on Levadex, which the Food and Drug Administration declined to approve in March 2012 based on the manufacturing process rather any standards of safety and efficacy.
Map has resubmitted its application for the drug, and regulators have indicated that Levadex could be approved in April. The first domestic sales are expected in mid-2013.
Allergan and Map will share profits from Levadex if it’s approved.
Market watchers say Levadex, which is inhaled, could be a potential blockbuster with Allergan on board as Map’s partner.
“Allergan is a seasoned commercial drug company that should be able to drive this product to peak potential,” author Dee Kotak, a longtime shareholder in Map, said in an article published on investor website Seeking Alpha.
Allergan bought the rights to co-market Levadex to neurologists and pain specialists for $60 million two years ago. Allergan is obligated to pay Map another $50 million milestone payment upon the first commercial sales of the drug, according to Kotak.
An approval of Levadex would open the potential for Levadex to become part of a migraine franchise Allergan began to create after the FDA approved its flagship Botox for treating chronic migraine headaches in 2010.
Chief Executive David Pyott said that Allergan would be able to offer Botox and Levadex with little branded competition because many other migraine prescription drugs are now off patent, making generics available in their place.
Griffin-American Grows Portfolio
Newport Beach-based real estate investor Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II Inc. recently bought 14 buildings for an aggregate price of $183.6 million.
Griffin-American said that its portfolio of healthcare real estate now totals 139 buildings acquired for about $1.325 billion. The properties are spread across 27 states.
“Our portfolio of medical office buildings, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities more than tripled during the year, based on purchase price, and became even more broadly diversified in terms of geography, asset type and revenue sources,” Danny Prosky, the REIT’s president and chief operating officer, said in a release.
The deal includes:
• Sutter North Bay Health Plaza in Santa Rosa. Sutter North Bay is a three-story, multitenant medical office building with 102,000 square feet of space. It’s 90% leased and serves as an outpatient clinic for Sacramento-based Sutter Health, a large not-for-profit hospital operator and health system.
• Central Indiana Medical Office Portfolio I, which is made up of five buildings with 182,000 square feet of medical office space. The buildings are in Indianapolis, Lafayette and Carmel.
• North Carolina Assisted Living Portfolio. The deal includes five assisted-living centers with 183,000 square feet of space and 480 beds. The centers are in Fayetteville, Fuquay-Varina, Indian Trail, Knightdale and Lincolnton. They are master-leased to operating entities affiliated with Raleigh-based Carillon Assisted Living LLC.
• Bessemer Medical Office Building in Bessemer, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham. Bessemer was built in 2006, has 100,000 square feet of space and five stories. It’s 98% leased to 14 tenants, including Medical West, a hospital operator with a facility on the property.
• Physician’s Office Pavilion at WakeMed North in Raleigh, N.C. The pavilion has four stories, multiple tenants, and 77,000 rentable square feet of space. It is on the campus of WakeMed North Healthplex.
WakeMed Health System, the complex’s primary tenant, said it will spend $62 million to expand the building into a 61-bed acute-care hospital.
• Northside Medical Office Building in St. Petersburg, Fla. Northside has three stories, 53,000 square feet of space, and is on the campus of Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg. The hospital leases more than 50% of the property.
Griffin-American previously was a unit of the former Grubb & Ellis Co., which was combined with another company to make Santa Ana-based Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Griffin Capital Corp. and American Healthcare Investors LLC took over sponsorship of the Griffin-American REIT in late 2011.
Bits and Pieces:
Tustin-based BioPhotas Inc. said that the FDA approved its Celluma device for muscle and joint pain; muscle and joint stiffness; muscle spasms, arthritis, compromised local circulation and acne treatment. BioPhotas is a member of the LaunchPad sponsored by Aliso Viejo-based booster group Octane and has raised more than $1.2 million in private startup investment. … Costa Mesa-based Lumany LLC said it released a 607-nm orange laser for various life-science applications. Lumany said the device can be used for flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, DNA sequencing, optogenetics, holography and particle analysis. … Kaiser Permanente-Orange County said that it received an award from Hollywood, Fla.-based WomenCertified for its obstetric offerings. The award is based on female patient satisfaction results as well as clinical considerations. … Fountain Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center and Placentia-Linda Hospital received several “center of excellence” designations by Philadelphia-based insurer Cigna Corp. for various procedures. The three hospitals are owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp.
