Insight from Rehovot was sold to an Estonian company for ILS 10.6 million
The Court approved the sale of Insight Biopharmaceuticals, which is in the process of liquidation
Gali Weinreb
17/7/17
The Central District Court approved to Adv. Dorit Levy Tiller, the special manager of Insight Biopharmaceuticals, to sell the company's activities and assets to an Estonian company PharmaEstica Manufacturing and its Israeli partner, Dr. Dobroslav Melamed. The activity will be sold for ILS 10.6 million.
Founded in 1991 by Dr. Naim Tamari (the company's sole shareholder before the sale), InSight, which operates from Rehovot Science Park, is engaged in the development and manufacture of drugs, most of which are generic versions of drugs for chronic inflammation, osteoporosis, cancer and multiple sclerosis. In the field of biosimilars, biological drugs, at its peak, the company employed 140 workers.
The company sells its products to other companies that distribute and market them. Recently, one of its major customers left the company, which severely damaged Insight's business and caused its economic collapse.
At the beginning of May, Adv. Levy Tyler was appointed temporary liquidator of the Israeli pharmaceutical company after 36 of the company's employees filed a dissolution request claiming that Insight had become insolvent and had not paid them. The company alone is estimated at ILS 3.5 million.
The decision on the identity of the buyer was made after the Estonian company submitted a significantly higher bid than the one submitted by the competitors, the Swiss company BTG, which wanted to buy only the company's Copaxone activity for ILS 5.8 million.
Dr. Duborslav Melamed was formerly the president of the generic vaccines company SciGen, which was sold to the American BioMed Company, as well as a researcher in the field of fertility at Bar-Ilan University, where he helped develop male fertility drugs and set up two other biomedical start-ups.
The amount includes the right to use the Company's name and intellectual property. The application was filed by attorney Mor Nardia.