InterMune clinches $55m deal to offload waning Actimmune
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
InterMune is to pocket $55 million plus royalties over two years by selling the rights to Actimmune (interferon gamma-1b) to Vidara Therapeutics International. The company noted that it had stopped investigating new uses for Actimmune several years ago, and has viewed it as a "tactical financial asset". Sales of the drug (around $4 million in the most recent quarter) have been in decline since the company settled charges of illegal off-label promotion for its use in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which remains its key revenue driver despite the fact that it is not actively promoted and is still not licensed for the indication.