Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim has called off the sale of its natural health care company and business Pharmaton, saying that the prospective buyer from the USA did not fulfil its part of the contract.

Boehringer said that it signed a deal with IdeaSphere, a New York-based health care company last August for the sale of Pharmaton, which is headquartered in Lugano, Italy. The firms had agreed to close the transaction on January 2 but then postponed the closure until February 16 “to enable a final clarification of some outstanding topics.”

With that deadline just passed, Boehringer claimed that IdeaSphere “has not fulfilled all their closing obligations in accordance with the contract” and has taken up its right to cancel the transaction. The German group concluded by saying that it is “in the process of considering alternative options in the interest of both Boehringer Ingelheim and Pharmaton.”

- Meantime, Boehringer has signed a collaboration with Xencor, a US company that specialises in protein and antibody therapeutics development. Under the terms of the deal, Boehringer will apply Xencor's proprietary XmAb technology platform to maximise the efficacy of its antibody drug candidates against selected targets, while the US firm will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, icence fees, milestones and a royalty on any products sold by Boehringer that incorporate its technology.