Cephalon Seeks to Acquire Marketer of Radiation Therapy

In a move to acquire an approved radiation treatment for liver cancer, Cephalon Australia Pty. Limited, a subsidiary of Cephalon, Inc. (West Chester, PA, USA) intends to make a takeover bid for SIRTeX Medical Limited (North Ryde, Australia) for around US$161 million. SIRTeX markets SIR-Spheres, a radiation treatment for liver cancer. The SIRTeX board of directors has announced its intention to recommend acceptance of the bid.

SIR-Spheres deliver a high radiation dose to tumors within the liver, regardless of their cell of origin, number, size, or location. The procedure uses biocompatible radioactive microspheres that contain yttrium-90 and emit high-energy beta radiation. The microspheres are implanted using a catheter placed in the hepatic artery feeding the liver, and are trapped in the small blood vessels of the tumors.

Clinical studies supporting approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed an improvement in median time to first progressive disease in the liver from 7.8 months to 12.0 months for patients with advanced, unresectable colorectal liver metastases. When combined with chemotherapy, the median survival was 27.1 months compared to 12.8 months for chemotherapy alone.

"SIR-Spheres is at the beginning of its growth cycle. With Cephalon's infrastructure, resources, and proven marketing ability, we believe we will be able to drive this product to its full commercial and therapeutic potential,” said Frank Baldino, Jr., Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Cephalon.



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