Big deals boost two drug makers

Salix, BDSI to work with partners

Two Triangle drug makers announced deals Wednesday with larger pharmaceutical companies, pleasing investors with partnerships that have the potential to boost sales.

Like many other small companies that make this region a hub for drug research, Salix Pharmaceuticals and BioDelivery Sciences turned to larger partners with the money and sales staffs to market new medicines.

The larger companies want cheap and quick ways to advance promising drugs and add clout to their smaller partners -- essentially betting that the medicines will be successful.

Industry observers expect such collaborations in the pharmaceutical industry to intensify. Experts predict that by 2010, these types of partnerships will generate about half of all U.S. drug sales.

Salix and Eisai

Salix, a company in Morrisville that specializes in gastrointestinal treatments, will team with the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese drug maker Eisai to help sell its treatment for ulcerative colitis to physicians.

Eisai's 600 sales representatives will begin promoting Salix's Colazal in late October, which could expand the potential market for the medicine.

Eisai is based in New Jersey, but employs about 270 people in Research Triangle Park.

The partnership will extend to a stronger version of Colazal, which Salix estimates will gain the approval of industry regulators in May.

Salix also reported positive results for two drug trials -- one involving a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome and another for a new medicine for ulcerative colitis. Salix also acquired the rights to an experimental heartburn drug.

Salix shares rose $1.64, or 14 percent, to close at $12.96.

BDSI and Meda

BioDelivery Sciences, which is also in Morrisville, announced a partnership with Meda AB of Switzerland that could be worth more than $90 million over seven years.

Meda agreed to market BDSI's experimental pain patch, Bema Fentanyl, once it receives regulatory approval.

BDSI projects that Bema Fentanyl could become available late next year and generate as much as $250 million in annual sales. The pain patch would be BDSI's first product on the market.

BDSI shares, which have more than doubled in the past year, traded higher much of the day, but closed at $3.94, down 6 cents.