Plymouth Meeting-based pharmaceutical company Harmony Biosciences Holdings recently completed its purchase of Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company producing transdermal cannabinoid therapies.
Harmony purchased all of Zynerba’s outstanding shares for $60 million in the aggregate.
“Zygel is a significant market opportunity that advances our long-term growth strategy of developing a diversified portfolio beyond sleep/wake therapies,” Dr. Jeffrey Dayno, Harmony president and CEO, said. “This acquisition expands our pipeline with a product candidate in our area of expertise that could address high unmet medical needs for people living with rare neuropsychiatric disorders.”
Dayno said Zynerba’s lead candidate, Zygel, has the potential to help 80,000 U.S. patients diagnosed with Fragile X syndrome and an additional 80,000 diagnosed with 22q deletion syndrome. Zygel is a pharmaceutically manufactured noneuphoric synthetic cannabidiol.
Fragile X syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that results in a spectrum of intellectual disabilities and behavioral symptoms, such as social avoidance and irritability. There are currently no U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved treatments.
22q11.2 deletion syndrome is a disorder caused by a small missing piece of the 22nd chromosome, causing a variety of physical symptoms and neuropsychiatric and behavioral symptoms. There are no approved treatments.
Zygel is formulated as a patent-protected permeation-enhanced gel for transdermal delivery.