Ipsen acquires Clementia Pharma and with it palovarotene.

Ipsen and Clementia Pharmaceuticals announced that they have entered into an agreement for Ipsen to acquire Clementia Pharmaceuticals, including its key late-stage clinical asset palovarotene, an investigational retinoic acid receptor gamma (RAR?) selective agonist, for the treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), multiple osteochondromas (MO) and other diseases. The acquisition will proceed by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement pursuant to the Canada Business Corporations Act. Palovarotene inhibits excess bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling which is linked to the progression of FOP and MO, two well-characterized, ultra-rare/rare and severely-disabling bone disorders for which there are currently no treatment options available. A New Drug Application (NDA) for palovarotene for episodic flare-up treatment of FOP is expected to be submitted to the FDA in the second half of 2019, and subject to FDA approval, a first commercial launch is expected in mid-2020.