Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502) declared its intention to acquire 100% of the voting rights it doesn’t already own in the Dutch biotechnology company TiGenix NV (NASDAQ: TIG).
Takeda is offering $627 million in cash, representing an 82% premium over TiGenix’s closing price prior to the date when the news of the deal broke. On January 5, 2018, the day the news broke, TIG stock shot up nearly 71%, to $40.75.
TiGenix is an advanced biopharmaceutical company focused on exploiting the anti-inflammatory properties of allogeneic, or donor-derived, stem cells.
Upon the acquisition, TiGenix will become a subsidiary of Takeda. The acquisition will give Takeda full control of Cx601 (darvadstrocel) , a stem cell therapy that is closing in on a European approval in Crohn’s disease. In October 2017, the FDA granted Orphan Drug status to Cx601.
Takeda acquired the ex-U.S. rights to Cx601 in 2016. In December, the EMA’s drug review group recommended the therapy for approval in the treatment of complex perianal fistulas in Crohn’s disease patients, which may have prompted this acquisition.
