One of Irvine-based Allergan Inc.’s medical cosmetic rivals got love from Wall Street earlier this month after reporting solid quarterly results.
Santa Barbara-based Mentor Corp. competes with Allergan in breast implants and is working on a potential competitor to Allergan’s Botox wrinkle-reducing drug.
Next year, Mentor also plans to launch the Puragen line of lower-face wrinkle smoothers, which would go up against Allergan’s Juv & #233;derm.
Thomas Gunderson, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, upped his rating on Mentor to “market perform” from “underperform.”
Earlier this year, Gunderson downgraded Mentor because of Allergan gaining market share, the threat of a new breast implant competitor and longer regulatory timelines.
Mentor’s June buy of Perouse Plastie SAS, a French device maker, also cheered Piper Jaffray.
Other analysts are optimistic about Mentor.
Peter Bye of Jefferies & Co. hiked Mentor’s price target to $53 from $49 and argued that Mentor’s pipeline efforts are “substantially undervalued” by Wall Street.
The company’s shares recently were trading at $47 with a market value of $1.8 billion.
Bye, in a research note, highlighted Mentor’s late-stage cosmetic research and development program for a competitor to Allergan’s blockbuster Botox.
Mentor’s product is known as PurTox. It still is a ways from coming to market,an earlier report by Banc of America Securities analyst Frank Pinkerton pegged Mentor’s domestic launch of PurTox for 2011.
Mentor has started building a $24 million plant where PurTox will be made in Madison, Wis.
The company’s development of the drug stemmed from a 2003 deal for technology developed at the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Bone Maker Bought for $51M
IsoTis Inc., an Irvine maker of artificial bone material, is being acquired by Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. of New Jersey for $51 million.
The deal also includes $1.7 million in debt. It’s set to close in the fourth quarter, subject to IsoTis shareholder approval.
Integra, whose products include collagen-based implants for tissue repair and head stabilization devices, said buying IsoTis would enhance its product offerings, broaden its international presence and increase its sales.
IsoTis is set to be a subsidiary of Integra. The combined company will have more than 2,000 workers and operations in North America and Europe.
IsoTis was formed in 2003 when Irvine’s GenSci Orthobiologics Inc. combined with IsoTis SA, a Swiss medical device maker. IsoTis operates out of GenSci’s former facility in Irvine.
The company started trading on Nasdaq in January after an exchange offer through which it bought 75% of the shares of IsoTis SA.
At the time, IsoTis said it wanted to be a U.S. traded company for easier access to capital and to align its listing with its primary market and operations base. IsoTis had traded publicly in Switzerland.
Avanir Cuts Office Space
Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Aliso Viejo drug developer, said it is reducing the space it leases in Aliso Viejo, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The filing shows that an amendment to Avanir’s lease, effective Aug. 1, decreased the space it leases to 11,319 square feet from 17,609 square feet. Avanir said in the filing the move reflects its decision not to expand into 6,290 square feet during the second quarter.
Separately, Avanir said it completed the sale of its FazaClo schizophrenia drug to Azur Pharma Ltd., an Irish company, for $42 million in order to shift focus to Zenvia, its drug candidate to treat involuntary emotional expression disorder.
Avanir said it also received $1.9 million in working capital adjustments, and that the deal also called for an additional $10 million in payments in 2009 and up to $2 million in royalties from Azur.
The company will use $11 million of the funds to pay down some debt. Financing from the Azur deal should allow Avanir to operate through late next year.
Avanir has seen costly regulatory setbacks with Zenvia, including a Food and Drug Administration request for more data in October.
Bits and Pieces:
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, the Aliso Viejo drug maker, said it completed enrollment in its first pivotal trial for retigabine, its epilepsy drug candidate. More than 350 patients are enrolled in the trial, which is being done at 49 sites in the U.S., Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Canada … The University of California, Irvine, said that it will receive $14.4 million during five years to support a project at its Center for Complex Biological Systems. The grant is going to support 20 biologists, mathematicians, physicists, engineers and computer scientists who are collaborating to study how the human body and other organisms work.
