Horizon Pharma Buys Raptor

For the week ending September 16, 2016, a combined $1.01 billion was spent on three pharmaceutical deals, one of which is also the largest pharmaceutical deal so far in September. Horizon Pharma plc (NASDAQ: HZNP), which develops, acquires and commercializes medicines for the treatment of arthritis, pain, inflammatory and/or orphan diseases, acquired Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: RPTP) for approximately $800 million, or $9.00 per share. Raptor focuses on developing and commercializing transformative treatments for people affected by rare and debilitating diseases. The transaction gives Horizon global rights to PROCYSBI® delayed-release capsules, used to treat nephropathic... Read More »

AbbVie Buys a Pipeline

After only four deals announced in 2014 and 2015, AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) gained momentum in the M&A space this year in an effort to expand and diversify its portfolio. The timing isn’t a coincidence, since it faces the looming expiration of Humira’s patent in December. The drug that accounted for 63% of AbbVie’s 2014 sales could lose its dominant position in the autoimmune disease market as competitive generics take the field. In the first four months of 2016, AbbVie has dished out $6.4 billion on three deals (two collaborations and one acquisition). On March 7th, the company announced a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim that added anti-IL-23 to its immunology pipeline. The... Read More »

AbbVie Gets Ahead of the Bad News Curve

On March 11, Sanofi (NYSE: SNY)  and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) announced that an experimental rheumatoid arthritis therapy (salrilumab) helped patients more than AbbVie Inc.’s (NYSE: ABBV) Humira in a late-stage trial. But AbbVie already had a new deal in place, a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, that was announced on March 7. Under terms of the agreement, AbbVie will make an initial upfront payment of $595 million to BI, which will be eligible to receive additional development and regulatory milestone payments and royalties on net sales of any drugs developed from this collaboration. At the center of the deal is BI 655066, an anti-IL-23 antibody now in Phase 3... Read More »

Generic Drug Market Got a Shake-Up in July

Sure, you’ve heard about Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ (NYSE: TEVA) $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan Generics (NYSE: AGN), announced on July 27. Less hyped was Teva Pharmaceuticals USA’s sale of 22 previously marketed generic drug brands to ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIP) for $25 million and a percentage of future gross profits from product sales. Earlier in the month, Indian drug maker Lupin Limited (NSE: LUPIN.NS) bought the Russian generic drug maker ZAO Biocom for an undisclosed price, and then U.S.-based generic formulator GAVIS Pharmaceuticals LLC and its manufacturing plant for $880 million. The day after the Teva/Allergan announcement, Hikma Pharmaceutical LLC... Read More »