April round-up of pharmaceutical & biotech M&A activity
1 May 2018
In pharma M&A terms, this month, and possibly this year, will be best remembered as when Ireland-headquartered rare diseases company Shire (LSE: SHP) finally succumbed to the advances of Japanese pharma major Takeda (TYO: 4502).
But it was a month when a lot more deals happened, too, as our table below shows:
| Company | Takeover candidate | Value | Why? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agilent | Lasergen | $105 million | A commitment to DNA sequencing technology |
| UCB | Element Genomics | $30 million | To strengthen UCB's position in genomics and epigenomics |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals | Rebiotix | Not disclosed | To further Ferring's understanding of the human microbiome and give the company rights to RBX2660, which could prove to be the first human microbiome product approved anywhere, and other projects |
| AveXis | $8.7 billion | To give Novartis rights to AveXis' work in treating SMA, an inherited neurodegenerative disease, and to a gene therapy platform | |
| ModiQuest Research | 7 million euros ($8.6 million) | To create a single CRO providing services across the full antibody discovery value chain | |
| Baliopharm | Not disclosed | To complement Promethera’s pipeline with an innovative antibody-based drug candidate that specifically binds to the tumor necrosis factor receptor 1, diversifying its therapeutic strategy in NASH | |
| GlaxoSmithKline's rare disease gene therapy portfolio | A 19.9% equity stake in Orchard | To strenghten Orchard’s position in gene therapies for rare diseases, as GSK looks to prune its pharmaceuticals portfolio | |
| Wilson Therapeutics | 7.1 billion Swedish kronor ($855 million) | To acquire novel therapies for patients with rare copper-mediated disorders including the lead candidate WTX101, which is in Phase III development as a treatment for Wilson disease | |
| Biovertis | 'Contribution in kind’ transaction valued at around 900,000 euros ($1.1 million) | To give Deinove rights to the antibiotic candidate MCB3837, which is about to enter Phase II testing as a treatment for severe clostridium difficile gastrointestinal infections | |
| Shire's oncology business | $2.4 billion | To enable Servier to meet its strategic ambitions to become a global key player in oncology, while Shire seeks to offload a business that is not deemed key to its long-term strategy | |
| Zentiva, Sanofi's European generics business | 1.9 billion euros ($2.35 billion) | So Advent can help to build a new, independent, European generics leader | |
| Merck KGaA's global Consumer Health business | 3.4 billion euros ($4.2 billion) | To give P&G a sought-after business unit while allowing Merck to further its strategic focus on innovation driven businesses within Healthcare, Life Science and Performance Materials | |
| Shire | £46 billion (~$64 billion) | To 'create a truly global, value-based Japanese biopharmaceutical leader' | |
| Orexigen Therapeutics | ‘Stalking horse’ bid worth $75 million | To give Nalpropion rights to the best selling weight loss brand in the USA, while allowing struggling Orexigen to effectively 'sell itself' | |
| Somerset Therapeutics | $190 million | To secure for Endo's Par Sterile injectable business Somerset Therapeutics' commercial and pipeline products as well as affiliate Wintac's manufacturing capabilities for those products | |
| SteadyMed | $216 million if milestones are met | To give United Therapeutics rights to Trevyent (treprostinil), to add to its pipeline of products to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension |
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