Signalling its return to M&A after a period of cost cutting, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has agreed to acquire Auspex Pharmaceuticals and its portfolio of drug candidates for hyperkinetic movement disorders for an equity value of approximately US$3.5 B. The deal will strengthen Teva’s CNS franchise at a time when it faces impending generic competition on its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone® (glatiramer acetate). Auspex’s lead asset is the NDA-ready SD-809, a more tolerable version of H. Lundbeck’s Xenazine® (tetrabenazine) for chorea associated with Huntington’s disease that utilises Auspex’s deuterium technology platform.