Irish-founded Nutriband completes $2.25m deal for 4P Therapeutics

Former Dragons’ Den investor Sean Gallagher is president of the company

Nutriband, the US pharmaceutical company founded by Irish entrepreneur Gareth Sheridan, has completed its acquisition of 4P Therapeutics.

As part of the deal, 4P received 250,000 shares of Nutriband’s common stock and an additional cash payout of $400,000 bringing the overall value of the transaction to $2.25 million.

4P Therapeutics is an Atlanta-headquartered company that is focused on the research and development of novel drug delivery technologies and therapeutics.

Included in the acquisition is the intellectual property for Defent, a product that deters abuse of opioid patches.

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Based in Florida, Nutriband, whose president is businessman, one-time presidential candidate and former Dragon's Den investor Sean Gallagher, went public two years ago. The company has a number of products for cardiovascular disease, inflammatory joint disease, abuse deterrent fentanyl and diabetes in its pipeline that use the same absorption method as nicotine patches.

Deterrent

“There are tens of thousands of opioid-related deaths each year in the US alone and while a significant number of these are caused by the purposeful or accidental misuse of prescription medications, others are the result of abuse for example by orally ingesting or smoking of opioid patches. Defent, once fully developed and approved, has the potential to save lives by becoming an important deterrent to such behaviour,” said Mr Gallagher.

The 4P Therapeutics deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions from Nutriband, which was founded by Mr Sheridan, who comes from Dublin.

In June, the company announced a deal to acquire Atlanta-based Carmel Biosciences in a $3.8 million deal while last year it bought Ohio-headquartered company Advanced Health Brands, whose IP was subsequently independently valued at more than $120 million.

Nutriband also announced a $90 million distribution agreement with Korean group Best Choice for its products earlier this year.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist