Businessweek

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of life-altering therapeutics to treat debilitating and often fatal rare diseases. The company focuses on therapeutics to treat severe inherited lipid disorders. Lipids are naturally occurring molecules, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, which are transported in the blood. Products Lomitapide The company’s primary product compound, lomitapide, is a small molecule microsomal triglyceride transfer protein inhibitor (MTP-I), which it is developing as an oral once-a-day treatment. It is developing lomitapide to treat patients with a rare inherited lipid disorder called homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). Lomitapide has been evaluated in 14 Phase I and eight Phase II clinical trials, as well as the pivotal Phase III clinical trial completed in 2011, with an extension study as a separate protocol. The company is also developing lomitapide for treating patients with other life-threatening lipid disorders, primarily patients with a severe genetic form of hypertriglyceridemia called familial chylomicronemia. Future Product Candidate Implitapide The company owns rights to a second MTP-I, implitapide. It has a license agreement with Bayer Healthcare AG (Bayer) pursuant to which it obtains a worldwide license from Bayer under the patent rights and know-how owned or controlled by Bayer applicable to implitapide. This license covers the development and commercialization of implitapide alone or in combination with other active ingredients. Intellectual Property As of March 1, 2012, the company’s lomitapide patent portfolio consisted of five issued U.S. patents and related issued patents in Europe, Canada, Israel, Japan, and New Zealand, and related pending applications in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Japan, Canada, Israel, and South Korea. It holds a worldwide license from University of Pennsylvania to these patents and patent applications. The issued U.S. patents are scheduled to expire between 2013 and 2027. The U.S. patent covering the composition of matter of lomitapide is scheduled to expire in 2015. The non-U.S. patents directed to the composition of matter of lomitapide are scheduled to expire in 2016. As of March 1, 2012, the company’s implitapide patent portfolio consisted of four issued U.S. patents, two pending U.S. non-provisional applications, and related patents and pending applications in Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, and South America. The issued U.S. patents are scheduled to expire between 2015 and 2017. The U.S. patent and non-U.S. patents covering the composition of matter of implitapide are scheduled to expire in 2015. The company has filed five non-provisional U.S. patent applications and related foreign applications in Australia, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Regulatory Matters The company’s drugs must be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration through the New Drug Application process. History Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 2005. The company was incorporated in 2005 under the laws of the state of Delaware.