Waksal back to deal-making mode, snags Three Rivers for $100M

The Wall Street Journal broke the story this morning that Sam Waksal's Kadmon Pharmaceuticals has struck a deal to buy Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals for $100 million as he promises to take what he accomplished at ImClone and take "it to the next step to build a 21st century biotech company."

Kadmon has raised $200 million from a group of investors who believe that Waksal, who spent five years behind bars for his notorious role in a clumsy insider trading scandal, can once again build a biotech company into a valuable commodity. Kadmon is focusing on new therapies for cancer and infectious diseases and Three Rivers, which already markets hepatitis C treatments, provides an operations and commercialization base that can be used to build the company into a fully integrated biotech outfit.

"Three Rivers is at an inflection point," Waksal told the Journal. Later, in a statement, he added: "Kadmon is building a new paradigm for bringing pioneering medicines to market more rapidly and cost effectively. This includes the simultaneous execution of a dual strategy, combining an operating commercial business with novel compounds at various stages of clinical development."

- here's the release
- read the story from the Wall Street Journal

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