Archive for the ‘Mergers and Acquisitions’ Category
Apr
30
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It's no coincidence that two of today's top 5 biotech stories involve late-stage drugs that look increasingly attractive to potential buyers. The surge of buyout stories recently--from Glaxo's ($GSK) move on Human Genome Sciences ($HGSI) to AstraZeneca's ($AZN) deal for Ardea ($RDEA) and the scuttlebutt about a try for Amylin ($AMLN)--has spotlighted just how hungry biopharma companies are for late-stage products. And Dow Jones highlights the trend in a piece looking at the driving factors behind the deals.
"Now, because a lot of biotechs have late-stage assets, prospective buyers are able to be a little bit more specific and more secure in the valuation that they are willing to attribute," Panmure analyst Savvas Neophytou tells Dow Jones.
For Shire ($SHPGY) CEO Angus Russell, the M&A trend is a natural outcome of Big Pharma's R&D restructuring.
"Many of the pharmaceutical companies started producing everything in-house out of their own R&D organizations and over time they've failed to produce enough that way," he says. "So the industry is now coalescing around a 50-50 model of half on your own and half bought in. There are some things we'll do for ourselves but we need to be constantly on the lookout for new technologies."
There's certainly no sign that the M&A trend talk will cool down anytime soon. Bayer is reportedly nearing a deal. AstraZeneca is a buyer. Roche ($RHHBY) is scouting new diagnostics deals. And there's clearly an unsatisfied appetite for buyouts that can be completed in the single-digit billion dollar range. 2012 is shaping up as the year of the dealmaker in biopharma.
- here's the story from Dow Jones
Related Articles:
Scrambling to add new drugs, Big Pharma is paying big premiums for biotechs
Rumors put Bayer, Onyx at the M&A altar
Merck KGaA chief swears off major deals amid pipeline woes
Amylin's up for bid. Who'll step in line?
Apr
09
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David Brennan,
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The Financial Times has been taking the temperature of some of AstraZeneca's ($AZN) biggest investors, and the newspaper reports that it's reaching feverish proportions as CEO David Brennan continues to reject calls for some sizable acquisitions and deal-making. "The chief executive is under intense pressure," says one investor, as speculation begins to ramp up over when Brennan may step down and who would step in. Some analysts, meanwhile, have delivered a scathing assessment of the company's lackluster response to generic competition and R&D setbacks. For some, desperate times demand desperate actions. Story
Mar
15
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FerroKin Biosciences,
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Fresh off a disappointing decision to jerk its marketing application for Replagal, Shire ($SHPGY) bounced right back with its announcement that it has scooped up the Bay Area biotech FerroKin BioSciences in a $325 million deal. Shire is paying $100 million upfront for FerroKin, with the rest offered in potential milestones.
That's a big payday for a "backyard" biotech that won national attention in a 2011 feature in The Atlantic. Founder and CEO Dr. Hugh Young Rienhoff operated the company from his house, with a virtual staff of 7 and 60 vendors offering outsourced support. Rienhoff told The Atlantic he had raised a total of $27 million for the company.
The biotech fits snugly into Shire's orphan drug strategy. FerroKin has been gathering proof-of-concept data for FBS0701, which is designed to counter the iron overload anemic patients can suffer from after repeated transfusions of red blood cells. FBS0701 has won orphan status in both Europe and the U.S. In the summer of 2010 the biotech announced it had nailed down a $12 million financing round from current investors Burrill & Company, Clarus Ventures and MP Healthcare Venture Management, with Healthcap Ventures of Stockholm coming in as a new investor.
"There remains a significant unmet need for a once-a-day, oral iron chelator in a convenient dosage form for the treatment of transfusional iron overload with a better safety profile than currently available treatments," explained Shire hematology chief Ross Murdoch. "We believe FBS0701 has the potential to meet that need. We hope to use our expertise in hematology coupled with our proven ability to progress products through the development pipeline to bring FBS0701 to the global marketplace. This acquisition marks an important step for Shire in building a business that serves the growing needs of specialty hematologists and their patients."
The deal comes after FerroKin displayed some of its mid-stage data at ASH a few months ago. FerroKin completed four Phase I studies before launching its dose-ranging Phase II trials. Rienhoff will provide consulting services to Shire during the transition period.
- here's Shire's release
Related Articles:
Can "backyard biotechs" beat Big Pharma at the development game?
FerroKin rounds up $12M for iron overload treatment
Mar
14
Posted under
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Hepatitis C,
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As far as most biotech investors are concerned, the most exciting work being done in the hepatitis C field involves next-gen treatments that can potentially quell the virus without the need for the troublesome interferon in the combo. As one of the hottest Holy Grails in R&D, the prospect of grabbing a big chunk of the multibillion-dollar market has inspired big buyouts and frenzied speculation about winners and losers.
But there's one biotech called Okairos--a spinout from Merck ($MRK)--which is pursuing a promising new approach to create a hep C vaccine. As we reported earlier this year, a small human study produced signs of efficacy, demonstrating the potential of a new vaccine that could use genetic material to spur a strong T-cell response to hep C. The investigators at Switzerland's Okairos built their program around the T-cell responses observed in a small group of people who could naturally block hepatitis C. And today Okairos says it has launched a mid-stage study that has already inspired partnership talks with some of the key players active in the disease.
The plan, says Okairos, is to recruit 350 patients for the NIH-funded study, which will be conducted by co-principal investigators from Johns Hopkins University and the University of California San Francisco. "The history of vaccine research has primarily focused on stimulating antibody responses," notes CSO Alfredo Nicosia. "We've unlocked the door to stimulating robust T-cell responses and will leverage this technology to combat important diseases such as HCV, respiratory syncytial virus and influenza."
"This could change the landscape quite a bit," Miller Tabak's Les Funtleyder tells Bloomberg. "In theory, if you could vaccinate everyone, you'd need a lot less drug." Funtleyder added this is the only experimental hep C vaccine he has heard of.
Okairos's game plan isn't restricted to hep C. It's also developing vaccines for malaria, cancer and flu with cash from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Life Sciences Partners, Novartis Venture Funds and Versant Ventures.
- here's the press release
- read the story from Bloomberg
Related Articles:
Hep C drug deal frenzy can't be slowed by growing doubts
Merck spinout nails promising study on hep C vaccine