BTAIQ

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has agreed to serve as the stalking-horse bidder for substantially all of BioXcel Therapeutics' assets in a transaction valued at up to $125 million, structured as a $57.5 million upfront payment plus up to $67.5 million in conditional milestone payments. The bid sets the initial baseline in a court-supervised Section 363 auction, meaning other buyers can compete for the assets before the sale closes. BioXcel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 27 after a weeks-long cash crisis, securing $19 million in debtor-in-possession funding from current lenders, and its shares fell more than 70% to roughly $0.19. The assets center on BioXcel's neuroscience portfolio: Igalmi, an already-approved dexmedetomidine sublingual film for acute agitation in adults with schizophrenia or bipolar I or II disorder, which will remain commercially available during bankruptcy, and the pending label expansion for BXCL501 for at-home use, with an FDA PDUFA target action date of November 14. The deal fits Teva's "Pivot to Growth" neuroscience strategy, following its separate $700 million acquisition of Emalex Biosciences and its lead asset ecopipam, which closed in June.