buyouts

ImClone builds case for higher takeover bid

John Carroll — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:40:44 -0400

The executives at ImClone have been carefully crunching the numbers for both its pipeline drugs as well as Erbitux as it builds a case that Bristol-Myers Squibb's current offer is far too low to accept. Sources tell the Financial Times that the company could fetch $70 a share and that Erbitux alone may well be worth about $60 a share.

Much of the analysis is centered on ImClone's pipeline: five main cancer therapies in Phase I and II. The company has been particularly bullish about the prospects of IMC-A12 for prostate cancer. ImClone has been considering splitting up its R&D programs from Erbitux as a possible alternative to a takeover.

"I would say we thought [the company] was worth $70 plus or minus," an industry source familiar with ImClone told the Financial Times, adding that he still felt the pipeline and infrastructure was "pretty interesting."

- read the article from the Financial Times

Pharma's biotech buyout spree to continue

John Carroll — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:00:05 -0400

Don't look for an end to biotech buyouts anytime soon, says the AP. Quoting a string of experts in the field, the article concludes that there's still a lot of pharma money out there in pursuit of new therapies. And that will continue to drive new buyout deals like the multibillion-dollar offers we've seen recently for Genentech and ImClone.

"There's a fair bit of money in the industry today, almost creating a pent-up capacity to do deals," said Deloitte's Terry Hisey.

Biotech's allure is clear to just about everyone in the market. These new drugs are more complex and don't face near-term generic competition. But with deals focused on pipeline drugs, valuations have to rely on an educated guess about what their commercial value would be if approved.

--read the AP story

GeneThera bids for Oxford BioMedica

Maureen Martino — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:23:57 -0400

Oxford BioMedica's stock got a major boost today on news that U.S.-based GeneThera made a takeover bid for the company. However, Oxford quickly rejected the offer, saying that GeneThera was not a credible bidder. GeneThera has a market cap of just $230,000, while the UK's OxfordBioMedica has a market cap of £46.5 million. "The board of Oxford BioMedica, which has consulted with its advisors, JPMorgan Cazenove and Rothschild, remains of the view that this unsolicited approach is not credible and is not in the interests of its shareholders," the company said in a statement read today.

So why did GeneThera bid? According to the company's statement, GeneThera thinks it can revive the TroVax program, a vaccine for kidney cancer that was put on ice last month because it failed to show efficacy when compared to existing treatments. After a meeting with OxfordBioMedica, GeneThera felt it "might be in the position to address the issues related to the failure of the Trovax clinical trial, and possibly restart the clinical trial utilizing GeneThera's more powerful technology."

Oxford's stock remains high as investors anticipate additional offers. Back in February there were rumors that Sanofi was preparing a bid for the company.

- here's GeneThera's statement
- read this report for more

CSL to buy Talecris in $3.1B deal

John Carroll — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:43:08 -0400

Looking to elbow its way to a larger share of the global plasma product market, Australia's CSL has agreed to buy Talecris Biotherapeutics for $3.1 billion. And analysts loved the deal from the minute it was announced, noting that CSL will be able to sell some assets to win regulatory approval while slicing away costs as it absorbs the U.S. company.

"Talecris is highly complementary to CSL's existing business. The acquisition will make CSL a stronger competitor in the highly competitive plasma therapeutics market place," CSL Managing Director Brian McNamee said in a statement.

- see the Talecris release
- read the story from the Financial Times

Genentech rejects Roche's $43.7B buyout bid

John Carroll — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:41:49 -0400

As expected, Genentech turned down Roche's $43.7 billion bid for all outstanding shares, but made it clear that a sweetened offer could win a nod. Roche's offer to pay an 8.8 percent premium on Genentech's share price--$89 per share--was a non-starter from Wall Street's perspective. Analysts say that it will take more than $100 a share for Roche to win over investors who hold the 46 percent of the stock Roche doesn't already own.

"The special committee is confident in the company's strong financial and clinical momentum and its uniquely productive research and development capabilities, which will continue to enhance shareholder value," said Dr. Charles A. Sanders, Chairman of the special committee appointed to look over Roche's offer.

Roche has to win over a majority of the non-Roche shareholders to complete the deal. Now that their appetite has been whetted, the real bidding can begin.

- check out the Genentech release
- read the AP report

2008's Billion-dollar deals (H1)

Maureen Martino — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:38:00 -0400

The first half of 2008 has drawn to a close, with deal-making still on a roll. In the first six months of this year, companies inked six pacts--both buyouts and licensing deals--that exceed the billion-dollar mark. Novartis has the biggest buyout so far, diversifying with the purchase of eye care company Alcon. But Takeda takes the prize for the busiest drug developer; the Japanese company made inroads in the U.S market, which included massive buyout of Millennium and two big licensing deals with Amgen and Alnylam.

Of course, the second half of 2008 is off to a strong start, with Roche offering $44 billion for an increased stake in Genentech and GSK shelling out $3.25 billion to partner with Actelion on a new insomnia therapy. The Roche/Genentech deal could be the biggest of the year, but for now, check out this list of deals from the first half--and keep an eye out for more big moves from drug developers in 2008.

1. Novartis and Alcon - $39B

2. Takeda and Millennium - $8.8B

3. Daiichi and Ranbaxy - $4.6B

4. Genzyme and Isis - $1.9B

5. Amgen and Takeda - $1B

6. Takeda and Alnylam - $1B

Peplin joins list of developers to drop IPO

John Carroll — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:57:33 -0400

You can count Peplin on the growing roster of developers that couldn't make a go of an IPO. The Emeryville, CA-based company cited "unfavorable market conditions" as its reason for dropping the IPO, which was filed with the SEC last year. A string of biotechs have made a similar move as investors have proved difficult to win over at a time public markets are badly roiled. Peplin had planned to use the IPO money to fund development of dermatology therapies. The company has a special focus on treating skin cancers. Shares of Peplin trade on the Australian exchange.

- read the AP story

Are Mass. lawmakers 'anti-biopharmaceutical'?

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

After coming up with a billion-dollar program to encourage the growth of the state's biotech industry, you'd think that BIO and the biopharma biz would be giving great bear hugs to Massachusetts lawmakers. Instead, GSK wrote a letter to the governor castigating the bill for demonstrating "a strong anti-biopharmaceutical streak." And BIO complained that the bill included a provision that threatened research as well as patient treatment.

The target of all this ire? A provision that bans any and all gifts from a drug company to a physician. That's any and all, as in free lunches, trips to swanky resorts or even cheap pens with company logos on them.

Nonsense, replied state senator Mark Montigny. Lawmakers felt that the gifts--which don't include drug samples--encouraged the use of expensive branded drugs without really benefiting patients.

- read the AP report

Biotech M&A has yet to reach its peak

Fri, 09 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

In analyzing the PowerShares Dynamic Biotech & Genome ETF, a fund made up of primarily small- and medium-cap biotech stocks, Seeking Alpha notes that Big Pharma's appetite for biotech acquisitions is far from satisfied. Despite the fact that Pharma's interest in biotech reached an all-time high last year, the conditions are right for an even bigger run on biotech M&As in the near future. Pharma companies are trying to fill weak pipelines and have the money on hand to do it. Add to that the fact that many small biotechs can be bought for a bargain, and you have the perfect conditions for an M&A free-for-all.

Take, for instance, Takeda's recent $8.8 billion bid for Millennium. That deal, analysts say, could indicate a run of biotech buyouts. A run was also predicted last year with AstraZeneca's $15.6 billion MedImmune buyout, "[b]ut the wave hasn't come, even though Big Pharma is sitting on a pile of cash and struggling with weak pipelines." While there's no question Big Pharma is snapping up promising developers left and right, even more deals could be on the way.

- see the Seeking Alpha report

On a spree, Roche lands $175M deal for Piramed

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Roche snapped up the UK's Piramed today in a $175 million deal that includes a $15 million milestone payment--the latest in a series of new acquisitions. Roche gets Piramed's programs involving PI3-K inhibitors for cancer and immune inflammatory diseases like arthritis. The milestone payment is for starting the mid-stage trial for cancer. Piramed's work on treating immune inflammatory diseases is in the preclinical phase.

Roche has been busily snapping up biotechs to beef up its pipeline work. And this deal marks the first buyout by new Roche CEO Severin Schwan (photo), who engineered a series of deals as head of the company's diagnostics unit. The news of the buyout came as Roche announced that Rituxan had failed in a trial for multiple sclerosis.

"The acquisition of Piramed is a positive step and allows Roche to access a PI3-K inhibitor program, which has become an important emerging target for the treatment of cancers and auto-immune diseases," said Vontobel analyst Karl Heinz Koch.

- see the press release
- read the story from Dow Jones

ALSO: Roche spelled out the clinical failure of Rituxan for MS, but says that the company still believes in a "B cell therapy" for MS. Article

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