Looks like Abraxis BioScience's (Nasdaq: ABII) $700 million in cash and investments -- compliments of its spinoff from APP Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: APPX), which also took all the debt -- is burning a hole in the company's pocket.

On Friday, Abraxis announced that it was spending $15 million of the cash to pick up a small drugmaker, Shimoda Biotech. Abraxis is also on the hook for additional undisclosed payments, if the company is able to achieve certain (also undisclosed) milestones.

Like Abraxis, Shimoda is trying to build multiple drugs based on a platform. Combining its cyclodextrin drug delivery platform with drugs that aren't very soluble allows Shimoda to improve the delivery -- for instance, taking an oral drug and making it injectable so that the drug begins working much more quickly.

Shimoda already has one drug on the market that uses its cyclodextrin platform. Dyloject is an injectable version of the painkiller diclofenac, the same drug used in Alpharma's (NYSE: ALO) recently acquired Flector patch and Novartis' (NYSE: NVS) Voltaren. Dyloject is currently only available in the U.K., although marketing partner Javelin Pharmaceuticals (AMEX: JAV) is working on getting it approved for sale in other European countries and there's a phase 3 trial in progress to gain U.S. approval. Abraxis will now receive royalties from sales of Dyloject, as well as milestone payments if a marketing application is filed in the U.S.

In addition to the platform technology, Abraxis also acquired Shimoda's subsidiary Platco Technologies, which is focused on developing anti-cancer compounds. Given Abraxis' focus on oncology, one has to wonder if this was what Abraxis was after, with the additional platform technology just an added bonus.

Without knowing the potential additional payments, it's a little hard to evaluate Abraxis' purchase, but the company certainly hedged its bets with such a low initial cost. Only time will tell if the additional platform is a distraction or raises up Abraxis even taller.

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