Ipsen acquires oncology assets for up to $1.025 billion

9 January 2017

French pharma group Ipsen (Euronext: IPN) could pay in excess of $1 billion in a newly-announced acquisition of the oncology assets of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: MACK).

The deal sent Merrimack’s share price soaring by more than 38% to nearly $5 in pre-market trading on Monday morning and comes as the USA-based company is cutting its workforce by 80% from the total of October 2016, to just 80 people.

Ipsen has acquired Merrimack’s key marketed product, Onivyde (irinotecan liposome injection), indicated for metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas after disease progression following gemcitabine-based therapy, in combination with fluorouracil and leucovorin.

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