Sonus decides against merger

BOTHELL – Sonus Pharmaceuticals has canceled its takeover of a small French biotechnology company, deciding instead to focus on gaining approval for its chemotherapy drug.

The Bothell-based company announced its intention in November to buy Synt:em, a privately held company in Nimes, France.

Synt:em has worked with peptides, special proteins that can improve the way a drug targets the part of the body it is meant to treat. The company, which like Sonus employs about 40 people, has early-stage drug candidates that could help treat cancers and control pain.

That seemed to fit well with Sonus’ focus on targeted anti-cancer drugs and related therapies.

But Michael Martino, Sonus’ president and chief executive, said Tuesday that the acquisition would have been too much of a distraction and a potential drain on resources at a critical time for the company.

“We concluded that the required focus of our resources is best achieved as a stand-alone company at this time,” Martino said in a written statement. He added he still has high regard for Synt:em.

Sonus hopes to begin the final steps later this year toward receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Tocosol paclitaxel. Tocosol, the firm’s most advanced product, belongs to the family of taxane-based treatments, the most widely used chemotherapy drugs in the world.

If the deal with Synt:em – originally valued at $30 million – had gone through, it was scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.

Late in 2004, the two companies revised the proposed terms of Sonus’ acquisition, reducing the number of shares Sonus would issue in the all-stock deal from nearly 9 million to 5.4 million. That would have allowed Synt:em’s shareholders to own 20 percent of the combined company.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.