Case Study

EUSA Pharma

Distribution

The company

  • Region: Europe
  • Sector: Healthcare
  • Stage: Small/Mid buyout
  • Type: Co-Investment
  • Fund Vintage: 2015
  • Exit Type: Trade sale
  • Highlights:
Proceeds £49.5m
(Excluding proceeds held in escrow)

Private Equity Manager (GP)

Case study

About the company

Headquartered in the UK, EUSA Pharma is a global, specialty in-licensing pharmaceutical company focused on oncology and rare diseases.


Investment rationale

  • Established business infrastructure including a sales and marketing network, and a product portfolio and management team which EW Healthcare (“EW”) could leverage to grow the licensing platform.
  • Pipeline of potential acquisition and licensing opportunities in Europe and the US targeting companies offering complementary products and distribution networks.
  • EW’s prior experience in working with EUSA Pharma’s founder who had successfully built and grown two specialty pharmaceutical platforms alongside private equity deal sponsors.
  • The credentials of EW which is one of the longest-established healthcare-focused growth equity and buyout specialist private equity firms in the world, having invested in over 150 companies to date.

Key products

  • Qarziba: For the treatment of paediatric neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a rare cancerous tumour that begins in the nerve tissue of infants and very young children. About 49% of neuroblastoma patients are in the high-risk category, meaning they have the greatest likelihood of relapse during treatment.
  • Fotivda: For the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. Renal carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer and usually affects adults aged in their 60s and 70s.
  • Sylvant: For the treatment of Multicentric Castleman’s disease (lymph node disorder). It is a rare disease that affects lymph nodes and other immune cell structures in the body and can severely weaken the immune system.
  • Caphosol: For the treatment of oral mucositis. It is an inflammation of the mucosa lining around the mouth, and is one of the most common complications arising from chemo- and radiotherapies in cancer treatments.

Our relationship

Pantheon has a well-established relationship with EW Healthcare dating back to 2004. Pantheon holds an advisory board seat on the four most recent EW funds, and PIP is an investor in each of those funds.

Exit

EUSA Pharma was acquired by Italian pharmaceutical company Recordati in December 2021, providing a full exit for EW and for PIP. The overall return to PIP is c.5.0x of invested cost with the vast majority of the distributions already received during the financial year.

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