Theravance to split into two companies

Markus MacGill

pharmaphorum

Theravance is to split in two and form a new company called Theravance Biopharma, leaving the original company to stand alone and focus on its partnerships with GlaxoSmithKline to develop respiratory drugs.

The new company will focus on earlier-stage developments while the respiratory specialist focuses on these later clinical developments.

“Following a review of alternatives to maximize the value of our portfolio, we have decided to separate our biopharmaceutical discovery, development and commercialization operations from our late-stage partnered respiratory assets."

“We believe this separation will provide investors with the opportunity to unlock potential value from two disparate sets of assets, better align employee incentives and provide a consistent return of capital to stockholders of Royalty Management Company."

Rick Winningham, chief executive, Theravance.

Theravance has also announced its first-quarter financial performance. Income for the first three months of 2013 was $1.3 million, generating a net loss of $37.4 million or $0.39 per share.

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