With the commercial launch of newly-approved Parkinson’s disease treatment Gocovri, Bay Area drugmaker Adamas is growing.
With the commercial launch of newly-approved Parkinson’s disease treatment Gocovri, Bay Area drugmaker Adamas Pharmaceuticals is growing. The company is growing so much that it is doubling its space in Emeryville, Calif. – and paying a premium to do so.
The East Bay Business News reported that additional space for biotech companies in the hotbed Bay Area is becoming more and more expensive as competition for real estate heats up. As Adamas expands its physical footprint in Emeryville, the company will pay $18 more per square foot than it already does, the Business News reported. In a Jan. 19 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange, Adamas said it will move from its current seventh-floor location of the KBIII Towers in Emeryville and take over space on the 10th and 11th floors. The Business News, which first reported the company’s expansion, said the move to the upper floors will provide Adamas Pharma with 37,626 square feet of space. Its current digs provide the company with 18,500 square feet.
The expansion though will cost the company more. The new space will be about $51 per square foot, a jump over its current rate of $33.18 per square foot, the Business News noted. In the SEC filing, the company said it extended its lease in the tower from 2020 to 2025. As part of that deal, its annual rent for the new space will be $159,911 for the first 12 months. Each subsequent month thereafter the rent will increase by $5,000 until the lease expires in 2025, the company said.
Adama’s new drug Gocovri (amantadine) was approved in August for the treatment of dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease patients who are receiving levodopa-based therapy. Gocovri is the first and only drug approved for this indication. It officially hit the streets on Jan. 9 backed by a team of 59 neurology field sales professionals. In announcing the commercial launch Adamas, Chief Executive Officer Gregory T. Went noted that more than 100 “distinct physicians and other healthcare professionals” have already prescribed Gocovri to patients.
Gocovri is a once-per-day tablet designed to be taken at bedtime in order to deliver amantadine throughout the body during the day. Parkinson’s disease patients with dyskinesia can experience uncontrolled and involuntary movement in the body. There are between 150,000 and 200,000 Parkinson’s disease patients with dyskinesia in the United States. About 1 million patients in the U.S. develop Parkinson’s disease. Gocovri will be available at a list price of $28,500 per year. The Business News noted that amantadine is a generic drug used to treat influenza. Doctors have used it as an off-label treatment for years to treat dyskinesia at a cost of about $500 per year, the Business News said. The Adamas formulation was designed to be taken once per day. Its coated formula provides for a longer control of dyskinesia with one dose. Phase III results showed patients receiving the Adamas drug exhibited a statistically significant cut in dyskinesia over a 12-week treatment period. The company did launch its “Gocovri Onboard” patient services program to provide financial assistance to patients.
In addition to targeting dyskinesia, Adamas is studying the efficacy of Gocovri in patients with multiple sclerosis who have trouble walking. Approximately 80 percent of the 400,000 patients with MS in the United States have difficulty walking.
