Marathon Venture Capital Fund (TASE: MARA) has sold a large part of its holding in Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc. (AMEX:PLX). Marathon sold 600,000 shares for $2.8 million, reducing its holding to 7.8%. It expects to report a pretax capital gain of NIS 10 million on the sale.
Protalix's lead product is prGCD, a proprietary plant-cell expressed recombinant form of the enzyme whose absence causes Gaucher disease. The biosimilar product is undergoing Phase III clinical trials. The ethical product developed by Genzyme Inc. (NYSE: DNA) has annual sales of $1.25 billion in the US.
Marathon's sale is surprising, given that Protalix is due to complete the Phase III trial for prGCD soon, and intends to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval during the fourth quarter.
Marathon estimates the value of its remaining stake in Protalix at $27 million. It stated, "We intend to keep our investment in Protalix, paying attention to developments in the company on the basis of its reports."
Protalix has $42 million in cash and no sales. Its cumulative losses totaled $80 million as of March.
In a separate development, Protalix announced that FDA has asked it to consider submitting a treatment protocol for the use of its therapy in patients with Gaucher disease in order to address an expected shortage of the drug Cerezyme, the only enzyme replacement therapy currently approved for the illness.
Protalix's share jumped 25% to $5.61 in early trading on the American Stock Exchange.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2009
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