Baxter agrees takeover deal for Chatham Therapeutics

Baxter has announced a deal to acquire fellow healthcare company Chatham Therapeutics in a deal worth around $70 million (42.15 million pounds).

The transaction will see Baxter purchase all of Chatham's outstanding membership interests, giving it full control over the company's developmental gene therapy programmes for the treatment for haemophilia.

Baxter and Chatham have been working together since 2012 on a collaboration to evaluate Chatham's Biological Nano Particle platform as a potential treatment for haemophilia B, known as BAX 335, which is currently in phase I/II testing.

As a result of this acquisition, Baxter has obtained broad access to Chatham's gene therapy platform, including the previously partnered haemophilia B programme and a preclinical haemophilia A programme, as well as potential future therapies.

Dr Ludwig Hantson, president of Baxter BioScience, said: "This technology will be highly complementary to our expanding pipeline of bleeding disorder treatments as we continue our pursuit of a bleed-free world."

This comes after the firm experienced year-on-year growth of eight percent in 2013, with a further increase of nine to ten percent expected this year.