Gene-Editing Firm Semma Acquired by Vertex
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) purchased another gene-editing biotech company last week, marking its fourth announced transaction of 2019. The pharmaceutical giant bought Semma Therapeutics for $950 million in an all-cash transaction for all of the company’s outstanding shares. Semma leverages stem cell-derived human islets to research potentially cures for type 1 diabetes. The biotech firm will become a separate operating subsidiary of Vertex and executives of Semma will join Vertex and remain in leadership positions at Semma. After a hiatus in 2018, Vertex has been on a shopping spree this year to build its gene-editing platform and capabilities for various... Read More »
Celgene Sells Otezla to Advance its Sale to Bristol-Myers Squibb
Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) has agreed to take Otezla (apremilast) off of Celgene Corporation’s (NASDAQ: CELG) hands. The Federal Trade Commission ruled the drug had to be divested due to concerns over competition with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) pipeline. Bristol-Myers announced it was buying Celgene last January for $74 billion. In this deal, Amgen gains the worldwide rights to Otezla, the only oral, non-biologic treatment for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, and certain related assets and liabilities. Sales of Otezla in 2018 were $1.6 billion and the drug has intellectual property exclusivity in the United States at least through 2028. Amgen will pay $13.4 billion in cash,... Read More »
Pfizer Finally Spins Off Upjohn
It’s official. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) will spin off Upjohn, its off-patent branded and generic drug division, and merge it with another generic drug maker, Mylan N.V. (NASDAQ: MYL), to create a new company. The deal is structured as an all-stock Reverse Morris Trust merger. Pfizer shareholders will own 57% of the new combined company, and Mylan’s will own 43%. The new company is expected to have pro forma 2020 revenues of $19 billion to $20 billion, EBITDA of $7.5 billion to $8 billion, and free cash flow in excess of $4 billion. After Upjohn issues $12 billion of debt at or prior to separation, with gross debt proceeds retained by Pfizer, the combined company will have... Read More »
Array BioPharma Grabbed By Pfizer for $11.4 Billion
With AbbVie Inc.’s (NYSE: ABBV) surprise $87 billion bid for Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) dominating headlines this week, you’d be forgiven for forgetting Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) just bought Array BioPharma (NASDAQ: ARRY) for $11.4 billion only days before. It’s the pharmaceutical giant’s biggest deal of the year thus far in announced dollar volume, and only second behind the aforementioned transaction. The terms included $48 per share in cash, with 237,500,000 shares outstanding, representing a 62% premium to ARRY’s closing price on Friday, June 13. Array BioPharma is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and... Read More »
Big Pharma Deals Aren’t Back, Despite Allergan Deal
The last round of Big Pharma mergers and acquisitions peaked in 2014 and ran out of steam in 2016. In 2014, the sector set a record of 188 deals (+25% yoy) and another record for spending, at $213.3 billion (+221% yoy). 2014 was the year Dublin-based Actavis plc (then NYSE: ACT) acquired Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN) for $66 billion, and changed its name to Allergan plc. At the time, the Irvine, California-based company was fighting a hostile takeover by Canadian drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (now known as Bausch Health Companies – NYSE: BHC). The original price was a combination of $129.22 in cash and 0.3683 Actavis shares for each share of AGN common stock. Based on... Read More »Schedule a demo
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