Pharma Transactions Show No Sign of Slowing with Flurry of Deal Announcements
- January 12, 2024
As 2023 drew to a close, several major drug manufacturers unveiled new acquisition targets marking the close of a busy year for transactions in the pharmaceutical industry. And in the early weeks of January, that trend showed no signs of slowing. Below is a quick roundup of some of the recent deal announcements:
- Bristol Myers Squibb announced December 26, 2023 plans to acquire radiopharmaceutical therapeutic (RPT) company RayzeBio, Inc. for $62.50 per share in cash. The deal is valued at approximately $4.1 billion. RayzeBio’s current clinical-stage pipeline includes innovative actinium-based RPTs for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and other cancers. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.
- AstraZeneca Plc will acquire Chinese cell therapy company Gracell Biotechnologies for up to $1.2 billion, according to a December 26, 2023 press release. Gracell is developing CAR-T therapy for blood cancers and autoimmune diseases. CAR-T is a type of cell therapy that reprograms a patient’s immune cells to target cancer-causing cells. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.
- On December 29, 2023, Swiss drug maker Roche announced plans to acquire LumiraDx’s innovative Point of Care technology for $295 million, according to a company statement. Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, Roche also will pay up to $55 million to fund the Point of Care technology platform business until the transaction closes, which is expected by mid-2024. The LumiraDx technology will be fully integrated into Roche Diagnostics. In other news, Roche also entered into a five-year licensing deal with MOMA Therapeutics for access to the biotech firm's KnowledgeBase platform "for the identification and prosecution of a certain number of novel drug targets involved in promoting cancer cell growth and survival," according to a January 4 press release. Under the deal, MOMA will receive $66 million in cash upfront and is eligible for discovery, development, and commercialization milestone payments topping $2 billion, in addition to tiered royalties.
- A Novartis AG subsidiary will pay Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. $100 million upfront, including a $20 million buy of newly issued equity, to license the biotech firm's capsides and other intellectual property and collaborate to advance a preclinical gene therapy candidate for Huntington’s disease, according to a January 2 press release. Under the deal, Voyager is eligible to receive a sizeable $1.2 billion in preclinical, development, regulatory and sales milestones, as well as tiered royalties on global net sales of products incorporating Voyager’s Tracer capsids, the release said.
- Novo Nordisk, the maker of the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy, has entered into research collaborations with two U.S. startups--Omega Therapeutics, Inc. and Cellarity Inc.--aimed at bolstering the Danish drugmaker's pipeline of new drugs for cardiometabolic diseases. The deals are the first under an existing partnership between Novo Nordisk and Flagship Pioneering. According to a January 4 press release, each company will receive up to $532 million in upfront, development, and milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties to be shared with the companies and Flagship's Pioneering Medicines. Novo Nordisk also will reimburse research and development costs.
- U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co. announced January 8 plans to buy Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc. for roughly $680 million in a move to expand the pharmaceutical giant's oncology pipeline. Under the terms of the deal, a Merck subsidiary will acquire Harppon for $23.00 per share in cash. Harpoon's lead candidate, HPN328, is in early stage development for treating small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. An additional early-stage pipeline candidateincludes HPN217 for treating patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024 subject to customary closing conditions.
- Johnson & Johnson unveiled January 8 plans to acquire biotech Ambrx Biopharma, Inc. in an all-cash merger transaction valued at $2 billion. Ambrx's portfolio includes various clinical-stage antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) in development for multiple cancer indications. ADC technology targets cancer cells while minimizing the toxic impact on healthy cells. Several major drug companies, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer Inc., Merck & Co., and AbbVie Inc., have recently announced similar multi-billion-dollar deals for biotech companies with ADC candidates in various stages of clinical development. Under the terms of the deal, Johson & Johnson will acquire all outstanding shares of Ambrx's common stock for $28.00 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.
- On January 9, GSK plc announced it would acquire asthma drug developer Aiolos Bio Inc. in a deal valued at up to $1.4 billion. GSK will pay $1 billion upfront and up to $400 million in certain success-based regulatory milestone payments for the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, a press release said.