Vertex Pharmaceuticals to acquire CTP 656, a proposed treatment for cystic fibrosis from Concert Pharmaceuticals.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced that it has signed a definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire CTP 656 from Concert Pharmaceuticals . CTP 656 is an investigational cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) potentiator that has the potential to be used as part of future once-daily combination regimens of CFTR modulators that treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis (CF).

As part of the agreement, Vertex will pay Concert $160 million in cash for all worldwide development and commercialization rights to CTP 656. If CTP 656 is approved as part of a combination regimen to treat CF, Concert could receive up to an additional $90 million in milestones based on regulatory approval in the U.S. and reimbursement in the UK, Germany or France. The agreement is subject to approval by Concert's shareholders and the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. Concert's Board of Directors unanimously supports the transaction and recommends that Concert's shareholders vote in favor of it.

CTP 656 was developed by Concert through the application of deuterium chemistry to modify Vertex's CFTR potentiator, ivacaftor. Ivacaftor was discovered by Vertex scientists and is approved in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia for people with CF who have specific mutations in the CFTR gene. CTP 656 has the potential to play a key role in future once-daily combination regimens to treat CF. Concert is currently conducting a Phase II study of CTP 656 in people with CF who have gating mutations. As part of the agreement, Vertex will acquire rights to all of Concert's other CF research and preclinical programs.