BridgeBio Pharma has scrapped plans to buy out its subsidiary Eidos Therapeutics. The planned deal hit a wall when a special committee set up by Eidos turned down BridgeBio’s third and final offer.
California-based BridgeBio created Eidos in 2017 to develop AG10, a treatment for the progressive, fatal disease transthyretin amyloidosis. The following year, Eidos went public, leaving BridgeBio with a 66% stake in the startup.
BridgeBio moved to buy the remaining 34% earlier this year only to be rebuffed. The committee set up by Eidos to appraise the original offer found it was inadequate and not in the interest of the company’s minority shareholders. That was one month ago.
Since then, BridgeBio has submitted two further offers, ramping up its initial bid of 1.3 of its shares for every Eidos share. The final offer came in at 1.5 shares, although it also gave Eidos shareholders the chance to collectively take up to $110 million in cash. BridgeBio’s stock has fallen by more than 30% since Eidos rejected its first offer last month.
The inability to get the deal done at the 1.5-a-share rate led BridgeBio to pull out of negotiations and look for other ways to use its capital.
“We continue to believe strongly in AG10, of which we retain approximately 66% ownership, but we feel that beyond our final offer there are superior ways for us to deploy capital, both in and outside of our pipeline, to generate benefits for patients and returns for our investors,” BridgeBio Chief Financial Officer Brian Stephenson said in a statement.
The companies will continue to work closely despite failing to reach a deal. BridgeBio helps Eidos with commercial, clinical operations and executive functions, ensuring it will play a role as AG10 moves through a phase 3 trial that got underway earlier this year.