Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has found another drug maker to take up part of its former headquarters in Costa Mesa.
Northern California’s Ardea Biosciences Inc., which is seeking to develop drugs for HIV, cancer and inflammatory diseases, signed a 12- to 24-month lease for 64,282 square feet of space at Valeant’s Costa Mesa building.
Valeant recently moved from its longtime headquarters near the San Diego (I-405) Freeway to Aliso Viejo. The drug maker still owns the Costa Mesa building.
Ardea, which changed its name last month from IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals Inc., could pay $2.4 million in rent if it stays in the building for the two years.
The company is up and running in Costa Mesa, Chief Executive Barry Quart said.
Ardea also bought three research and development programs from Valeant and has hired about 50 workers. Two of the programs are geared toward potential HIV treatments.
The company took the second floor and part of the first floor in the Costa Mesa building, which totals 177,000 square feet and three stories. The company plans to use the space for research and development.
Separately, Ardea moved its headquarters from Lafayette east of Oakland to San Diego.
In the second quarter, Ardea plans to start a first-phase clinical trial of AR806, its lead drug candidate acquired from Valeant.
The deal calls for Valeant to receive milestone payments and royalties. Payments could total $25 million from the HIV program and $17 million for the cancer/inflammatory program, if they pan out.
Valeant decided to leave the Hyland building, which was built in 1975, as part of its ongoing effort to distance itself from its days as ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. under Milan Panic, its colorful and controversial founder and former chief executive.
The drug maker signed a 10-year deal for a four-story, 109,948-square-foot building at One Enterprise Drive in Aliso Viejo. Valeant’s new building is the former headquarters of Fluor Corp., an engineering and construction company that moved to Texas last year and still has operations in Aliso Viejo.
The Costa Mesa complex was closely linked with Panic, who was ousted by dissident shareholders in 2002. An iconic oil painting of the former Yugoslavian prime minister once hung in the lobby, while hallways were lined with pictures of Panic with various dignitaries.
Moving to Aliso Viejo “gets the legacy behind us, and will help us move forward,” Valeant Chief Executive Timothy Tyson said in an earlier Business Journal interview.
