After Long Courtship, MediciNova To Buy Avigen

NEW YORK (AP) — After more than a year and a half of talks, biotech drugmaker MediciNova Inc. said Friday it will buy smaller rival Avigen Inc. for $1.24 per share, or about $37 million.

Avigen has been looking for a buyer for months, and in January, it confirmed it had been in talks with MediciNova for more than a year. The companies agreed to the basic terms of the sale in June. Both Avigen and MediciNova are running clinical trials of a drug candidate called ibudilast, although they are researching it in different indications: Avigen is testing the drug as a treatment for chronic nerve pain, addiction to opioids and methamphetamine, and opioid withdrawal, while MediciNova is testing it against multiple sclerosis.

Based Avigen's total of 29.8 million shares on Aug. 5, the deal values the Alameda, Calif., company at $37 million. Shares of Avigen closed at $1.33 on Thursday, making the final price a 7 percent discount. Over the past 52 weeks the stock has traded at a high of $4.66 in September and a low of 49 cents in December.

Shares of San Diego-based MediciNova finished at $6.47 Thursday.