Upsher-Smith and AmbioPharm Announce Partnership Agreement to Develop and Market Corticotropin Injection

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. and NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C., Aug. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC (Upsher-Smith) and AmbioPharm, Inc. (AmbioPharm) today announced that the companies have entered into a partnership agreement to develop and market Corticotropin Injection in the U.S. The market for adrenocorticotropic hormone or ACTH (brand Acthar^® Gel*) is currently valued at $770 million (IQVIA, 12 months ending June 2020).

Under the terms of the agreement, Upsher-Smith will submit the New Drug Application for Corticotropin Injection to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and market and distribute it under its own label in the U.S. upon FDA approval. AmbioPharm will manufacture the active pharmaceutical ingredient exclusively for Upsher-Smith. A contract manufacturing organization will exclusively supply Upsher-Smith with the finished product for sale in the United States. Financial terms related to the deal have not been disclosed.

"We are excited to partner with AmbioPharm, a leader in the field of peptide development and manufacturing, to bring Corticotropin Injection to the U.S. market," said Rusty Field, President and CEO of Upsher-Smith. "This agreement represents another step in Upsher-Smith's and Sawai's strategy to co-invest in highly complex generics and 505(b)(2) products that can drive long-term growth." 

Added Chris Bai, CEO of AmbioPharm, "We are pleased to bring our unsurpassed technical capabilities and peptide manufacturing capacity to our partnership with Upsher-Smith, a company with a long-standing tradition of bringing high-quality products to the patients who rely upon them."

About Upsher-Smith

Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC is a trusted U.S. pharmaceutical company that strives to improve the health and lives of patients through an unwavering commitment to high-quality products and sustainable growth. Since 1919, it has brought generics and brands to a wide array of customers backed by an attentive level of service, strong industry relationships, and dedication to uninterrupted supply.

As Upsher-Smith begins its second century in business, the company enters a new ambitious era that has been accelerated by its 2017 acquisition by Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Upsher-Smith and Sawai plan to leverage each other for growth worldwide and embark on an exciting new chapter as they seek to deliver the best value for their stakeholders, and most importantly, Do More Goodtm for the patients they serve. For more information, visit www.upsher-smith.com.

About AmbioPharm

AmbioPharm, Inc. is a full-service peptide manufacturing company headquartered at its North Augusta, South Carolina, USA cGMP production site. Its second cGMP facility in Shanghai, China, performs process development and optimization, and manufactures building blocks, raw materials, and custom peptides at very large scale. Both of its cGMP facilities are capable of handling any manufacturing scale required to produce bulk peptides to custom specifications using a wide range of skill sets in both solid and solution-phase chemistry. Its management team has over 120 years cumulative experience running pilot to commercial scale production. The Company also performs organic conjugations to small molecules, proteins, toxoids, antifungals, KLH, and PEG. For more information, visit www.ambiopharm.com.

*Acthar^® Gel is a registered trademark of Mallinckrodt ARD IP Limited.
Do More Good is a trademark of Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC.

SOURCE Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC