Allergan completes acquisition of US-based biopharma company, Naurex Inc

Allergan plc, a leading global pharmaceutical company, has successfully completed the acquisition of Naurex Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing transformative therapies for challenging disorders of the CNS, including depression.

Why this acquisition?

The acquisition of Naurex strengthens Allergan’s development pipeline in mental health with the addition of Naurex’s lead development product rapastinel (GLYX-13), a once-weekly intravenous phase 3-ready molecule that has demonstrated rapid, robust and sustained efficacy in multiple phase 2 clinical studies in depression. 

The acquisition also adds Naurex’s development product NRX-1074, a next-generation drug candidate, the intravenous form of which has shown rapid and robust antidepressant efficacy in an initial single-dose phase 2 study.  NRX-1074 is also an orally bioavailable drug candidate which is in phase 1 studies.  Rapastinel and NRX-1074 are both targeted modulators of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor.  Both therapies have been found to be well-tolerated in all studies to date, with no drug-related serious adverse events.