Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced that it has agreed to acquire Seattle-based Alpine Immune Sciences for $4.9 billion.
Alpine Immune Sciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which is engaged in discovering and developing protein-based immunotherapies to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The company’s approach includes a proprietary scientific platform that converts native immune system proteins into differentiated, multi-targeted therapeutics. According to its most recent annual report, the company’s revenue for FY 2023 was approximately $58.9 million, and EBITDA was -$43.3 million.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is an American biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. Vertex was one of the first biotechnology firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. According to its full year 2023 financial report, Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ annual revenue for 2023 was $9.87 billion, and EBITDA was $4 billion.
The transaction was unanimously approved by both the Vertex and Alpine Boards of Directors and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024. According to the press release, Vertex Pharmaceuticals will explore povetacicept’s potential as a ‘pipeline-in-a-product’ and add Alpine’s protein engineering and immunotherapy capabilities to its toolbox. Lazard was the financial advisor to Vertex, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was legal counsel.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, this transaction represents the 57th Biotechnology transaction of the year. This also marks the largest Biotechnology transaction by purchase price for the year.
