Pfizer Teams up on Lyme Disease Vaccine
Even as it scrambles to join the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is still open to other ventures. On April 30 the Big Pharma signed a collaboration agreement with French specialty vaccine maker Valneva SE to develop and commercialize Valvena’s Lyme disease drug candidate VLA15, which is currently in Phase 2 clinical studies. VLA15 is the only active Lyme disease vaccine program in clinical development today and covers six serotypes that are prevalent in North America and Europe. It demonstrated strong immunogenicity and safety data in pre-clinical and Phase 1 studies. The program was granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July... Read More »
Takeda Divests Another Portfolio
In another step to slim down its product line, Takeda Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: TAK) announced another portfolio divestment. Orifarm Group A/S, an ambitious operator in the European pharmaceutical market, has purchased Takeda’s portfolio of select non-core over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceutical products sold in Europe, and two manufacturing sites located in Denmark and Poland for $575 million. The portfolio includes a variety of OTC products and select prescription products in the respiratory, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular and endocrinology therapeutic areas sold predominantly in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Poland, Finland, Sweden, the Baltics and Austria. The portfolio... Read More »
Takeda Exits LatAm Portfolio
The Pharmaceutical sector, once a powerhouse of billion-dollar M&A activity, has been relatively quiet in recent years. One exception was Takeda Pharmaceutical’s (NYSE: TAK) takeover of Shire plc in 2018 for $81.5 billion. In March, the Japanese drug maker was back again, although on the sell-side. Takeda announced the sale of a portfolio of select non-core products exclusively in Latin America, including over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceutical products sold in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru. The buyer was Brazil’s largest pharmaceutical company, Hypera S.A., with a leading position in branded prescriptions, consumer health and... Read More » Pharmaceutical Firms Are Cleaning House to Profit
There’s no doubt it was an unusually slow February in the healthcare M&A market. Historically, the middle of Q1 tends to dip and then rebound by March, but with less than 100 deals on the books, the rapid spread of the coronavirus, Covid-19, seems to have undercut investor confidence, both big and small. And although some biotech stocks have soared following announcements of their coronavirus treatment efforts, pharmaceutical firms have been relatively quiet. Aside from some players like Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD), which just announced a $4.9 billion acquisition of Forty Seven, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTSV) and whose product remdesivir is seen a hope as a potential treatment for Covid-19, no... Read More » Eli Lilly Comes Out Swinging
The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco concluded last week with very few big deal announcements. In January 2019, Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) made its $74 billion takeover of Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) public just before the conference started. That was quickly followed by Eli Lilly and Company’s (NYSE: LLY) $8 billion deal for Loxo Oncology. This year, Eli Lilly was back in the spotlight with an agreement to acquire Demira, Inc. (NASDAQ: DERM), the largest deal announced in January. The $1.1 billion cash price (13.3x revenue), or $18.75 a share, represents an 86% premium to the 60-day volume-weighted average trading price of Dermira’s stock... Read More »