The acquisition of Intercept Pharmaceuticals by the Italian pharmaceutical company Alfasigma became inevitable due to the failed development of Intercept’s flagship asset, obeticholic acid, as a treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). With no advanced assets left in its pipeline and rapidly declining share prices, Intercept had a compelling reason to pursue acquisition, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Jay Patel, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Intercept is perhaps best known for its marketed asset in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), obeticholic acid (Ocaliva). However, the PBC market remains relatively small, with GlobalData forecasting it to reach around 0.6 million total diagnosed prevalent cases of PBC across the 16 major pharmaceutical markets (16MM) in 2027.

“In contrast, GlobalData anticipates there to be almost 71.4 million total cases of NASH across the seven major pharmaceutical markets (7MM) by 2027. In the US alone, the market size for NASH is forecasted to reach over $25 billion by 2029. As a result, Intercept’s future was predicated on its potential in NASH.”

Intercept’s inability to emerge as a leader in NASH ultimately prevented its growth into a much larger pharmaceutical company. As the share price dropped by over 46% over the course of three months, financing the company’s other activities likely became more difficult. Intercept’s announcement of a restructuring also came with a clear implication that it was looking for acquisition after its NASH failure.

Patel concludes: “The fact that Alfasigma is a privately held company is also helpful, as it allows for a renewed focus on maintaining sales of existing marketed assets and developing early pipeline opportunities, rather than investing considerable resources into both financial regulatory compliance and addressing shareholder concerns.

“In addition, Alfasigma boasts a wealth of experience in treating metabolic and gastroenterological diseases, with products in its portfolio including renal disease treatment Carnitene, and Xifaxan (rifaximin-α), which is used to treat a variety of gastrointestinal diseases, including hepatic encephalopathy. This aligns well with Intercept’s pipeline, which includes INT-787, a Phase IIa FXR agonist for severe alcohol-associated hepatitis, as well as Ocaliva. Consequently, this outcome strengthens the former Intercept assets, despite the end of the Company itself.”