UPDATED: Amylin shares rocket up on report of $3.5B buyout offer by Bristol-Myers

Posted under Amylin pharmaceuticals, Blog, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bydureon, Byetta, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Victoza, Videos by John Carroll

Shares of Amylin Pharmaceuticals ($AMLN) rocketed up 45% this morning, fueled by a report by Bloomberg that the Bydureon developer had turned a cold shoulder to a $22 per share buyout offer from Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY), putting the value on this new potential pearl at $3.5 billion.

Amylin has had an eventful schedule over the past year. First it sued its longtime partner Eli Lilly ($LLY) after Lilly forged a marketing pact with rival Boehringer, then it executed an expensive divorce from the pharma giant. Soon after, the FDA delivered on a long-awaited approval for Bydureon, the once-weekly successor to the Byetta franchise. Now Meg Tirrell and Jeffrey McCracken, quoting sources close to the deal, report that Amylin rejected Bristol-Myers offer to pay a 43% premium to buy the company--a deal that would register as the largest in a string of 19 BMS acquisitions over the past five years.

As Bloomberg notes, Amylin has been seeing its revenue from Byetta shrink as Novo's ($NVO) Victoza muscled into its market share. And it's been looking for a global partner who can step into Eli Lilly's shoes outside the U.S. But none of that persuaded Amylin to warm up to Bristol-Myers' offer. BMS hasn't been back in touch since it was rejected by Amylin.

Amylin struck a $1.6 billion deal to end its relationship with Lilly. That included a $250 million upfront and a $1.2 billion share of the Bydureon revenue. The FDA's approval came soon after the two companies split up.

News of the $3.5 billion bid quickly seized the attention of Wall Street analysts, who began to debate just what Amylin is worth. Its value has a lot to do with its prospects for Bydureon, of course, and as Adam Feuerstein at TheStreet notes, if the board is turning down a $22 offer, they must have a strong belief that they can go on to register blockbuster sales. But if Bristol can't prevail, adds Feuerstein, the likes of Takeda, GlaxosmithKline and AstraZeneca just might step in.

- here's the story from Bloomberg
- here's the report from TheStreet

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GSK’s albiglutide flunks head-to-head diabetes PhIII with rival Victoza

Posted under Blog, Companies, Diabetes, Diagnostics, Eli Lilly, Funding, GlaxoSmithKline, Liraglutide, LY2189265, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, taspoglutide, Universities, Victoza, Videos by John Carroll

GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) has stumbled badly in its first late-stage study of albiglutide, a weekly GLP-1 diabetes drug. Reporting on the top-line results for the first of eight Phase III studies planned for albiglutide, the pharma giant reports today that the treatment flunked a head-to-head study with the daily Victoza, failing to match liraglutide's efficacy data.

GSK R&D chief Moncef Slaoui was putting a brave face on the setback, though. "This is the first of eight Phase III studies to conclude and we continue to look forward to receiving the results of the remaining studies which will provide a more complete assessment of the profile of albiglutide in type 2 diabetes," he said.

The weekly albiglutide was one of several late-stage treatments that have been angling to compete with current diabetes blockbusters as well as Bydureon, which has been badly slowed by the FDA. Roche's taspoglutide--licensed from Ipsen--had been one of the top contenders in the race, but the Big Pharma company dropped it after seeing troubling side effects in its own late-stage program. That failure left Lilly's ($LLY) LY2189265 as one other top contender.

GSK is committing a sizeable budget to albiglutide. This first Phase III recruited 841 patients from eight countries for 32 weeks of treatment. Like others in the field, GSK understands that the diabetes epidemic represents one of the biggest growth markets in pharma. Add up all the R&D work, though, and you have one of the most expensive--and frustrating--late-stage development races in the industry.

- here's the GSK release

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Rival developers race to grab Type 2 diabetes market