The Power of the FDA

The Power of the FDA

by | Aug 10, 2018 3:08 pm | Pharmaceuticals

What happens when the FDA rejects not one drug application, but two, in a short period of time? Your share price plunges by nearly 90%. And then you look for options. Such was the dilemma faced by UK-based drug maker Vernalis plc. So, last March the Vernalis board started looking for offers to buy the company. One attraction was that it had close to $34 million of cash that would be at the disposal of a buyer. Publicly traded Ligand Pharmaceuticals emerged as the buyer, paying about $42 million, or a 45.7% premium to the closing price the day before the sales process was announced in March. It was just a 1.7% premium to the volume weighted average price for the three months before the... Read More »