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Idun Looks Toward Future With Pfizer

Yet another privately held San Diego-based biotechnology company agreed to be gobbled up by a big pharmaceutical company.

Idun Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s announced agreement to be acquired by New York-based Pfizer Inc. on Feb. 24 is the third such deal this month.

Steven J. Mento, the president and chief executive of Idun, was not authorized to disclose any financial details. He also couldn’t give information of how the buyout could affect Idun’s operation and its 54 employees.

“All the details with the transition from Idun into Pfizer will be discussed right now,” Mento said in a phone interview Feb. 25.

Mento said the employees’ first reaction to the news was “sadness.”

Everyone knows there will be some changes, he said.

Idun and Pfizer have been in discussions for a year, he said.

The venture-backed firm would have had a tough time funding continued human trials of its lead liver compound IDN-6556 alone.

The experimental drug is in second-stage human testing trials.

Mento said Pfizer has the resources to move the experimental drug through the three stages of human trials required before a company can file for drug approval with federal regulators.

The deal is one of Pfizer’s latest efforts to acquire promising drugs to add to its pipeline.

Sales of its best-selling arthritis drugs, Celebrex and Bextra, have suffered amid concerns that the two drugs have a risk of causing heart problems.

Idun expects the buyout to close during the second quarter.

“Right now we focus on operating as business as usual,” said Mento.

The other two San Diego firms that recently announced new parent companies are Syrrx Inc. and Xcel Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Syrrx agreed to be bought by Japanese-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for about $270 million.

Costa Mesa drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International said on Feb. 2 that it is spending $320 million to buy Xcel.

, Marion Webb

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