Fierce Biotech M&A Tracker 2023: Gilead nabs PARP1 specialist, Bellus, Satsuma and more

17 May 2023
www.fiercebiotech.com
AcquisitionPhase 3Drug ApprovalVaccine
Fierce Biotech M&A Tracker 2023: Gilead nabs PARP1 specialist, Bellus, Satsuma and more
Preview
Source: FierceBiotech
We’ll be keeping an eye out for everything from the Big Pharma bolt-ons and blockbusters to the reverse mergers and biotech-on-biotech buyouts.
Acquisitions are back, biotech. After a stagnant year with pharma sitting on a heap of cash, the fruits of in-person business development meetings are beginning to ripen.
And so today, Fierce Biotech launches the M&A Tracker, your one-stop shop for dealmaking in the biopharma universe. We’ll be keeping an eye out for everything from the Big Pharma bolt-ons and blockbusters to the reverse mergers and biotech-on-biotech buyouts.
Here’s hoping the remaining three quarters of 2023 are filled with exciting deals that can pull the biotech industry out of its cloud to brighter days.
https://omny.fm/shows/the-top-line/february-10-2023/embed
May
XinThera
Date: May 9
Price: Undisclosed
Gilead is picking up PARP1 and MK2 inhibitorMK2 inhibitor specialist XinThera for an undisclosed sum, adding a few early-stage prospects to its pipeline. The goal is to find a match for breast cancer med Trodelvy to take on AstraZeneca’s Lynparza. Story
Date: May 1
Price: $5.9 billion
Astellas is paying a cool $5.9 billion to enter an eye disease niche with the acquisition of Iveric Bio. The biotech is awaiting an FDA decision for the approval of avacincaptad pegol, a complement C5 protein inhibitorcomplement C5 protein inhibitor that reduced the rate of geographic atrophy progression in a phase 3 clinical trial. Story
April
Date: April 18
Buyer: GSK
Price: $2 billion
GSK has bought out Bellus Health for its phase 3 chronic cough treatment camlipixant, a rival to Merck & Co.'s stalled candidate gefapixant. The Big Pharma believes that, even if camlipixant arrives on the market years after Merck does, a multibillion-dollar opportunity awaits. Story
Date: April 17
Price: $0.91 per share, estimated $30 million*
Satsuma Pharma was in need of a helping hand to move its migraine spray forward, and the company behind the nasal spray tech stepped up with a 91 cents per share offer. Story
* Deal value calculated by share price multipled by outstanding shares.
Date: April 17
Buyer: Merck & Co.
Price: $10.8 billion
Prometheus created a lot of buzz with midstage data for bowel disease candidate PRA023 late last year. Merck emerged victorious with an offer of $10.8 billion, but it wasn't the only Big Pharma that tried. Story
Date: April 5
Price: Undisclosed
Ginkgo is bolstering its gene therapy capabilities with the purchase of AAV gene therapy capsid specialist StrideBio. The goal of the acquisition is to gain the biotech's intellectual property, not to get into drug development. The company's TRX-330 program for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy will be sold off. Story
March
Date: March 30
Buyer: EIP Pharma
Price: N/A
EIP needed help to bring an ex-Vertex molecule into phase 2, and Diffusion Pharma proved to be the lifeline. The two companies decided to merge to create one publicly listed company to complete a clinical trial in dementia with Lewy bodies. Story
Date: March 27
Price: $1.85 per share, estimated $97.4 million*
Jounce and Redx planned to ride out the biotech markets together in a reverse merger. Jounce was expected to contribute at least $130 million to the combined group to fund Redx's ROCK2 inhibitorROCK2 inhibitor RXC007. But months later, Jounce bounced and instead took a deal from Concentra Biosciences. Story
* Deal value calculated by share price multipled by outstanding shares.
Date: March 2
Price: Undisclosed
Flamingo Therapeutics picked up Dynacure in a deal that will see the combined companies work together to develop RNA-targeted oncology therapies. Dynacure CEO Stéphane van Rooijen, M.D., will lead the combination with Flamingo CEO Michael Garrett at his wing as chief operating officer. Story
February
Date: Feb. 28
Price: Undisclosed
Another biotech searching for help after a rough go in the clinic, Adamis accepted a merger with neurology-focused DMK Pharmaceuticals. Story
Date: Feb. 23
Buyer: MEI Pharma
Target:
Price: N/A
MEI Pharma and Infinity Pharma will join forces in a biotech-to-biotech merger that will see a newly named company rise from the ashes. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Infinity will become a wholly owned subsidiary of MEI, whose shareholders will own approximately 58% of the company. Story
Date: Feb. 23
Buyer: Notable Labs
Price: N/A
2022 didn't go well for VBL Therapeutics, and so the immune- and inflammatory-disease-focused biotech will merge with cancer-focused platform company Notable. Story
Date: Feb. 15
Price: N/A
A new company focused on extended phage therapies will emerge from the combination of Erytech Pharma and French biotech Pherecydes. Story
Date: Feb. 2
Price: Up to $100 million
Privately held Immunorizon will come under the wing of Purple, which focuses on tumor immune evasion and drug resistance. Purple has two lead assets in the pipeline: NT219 and CM24 for solid tumors and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, respectively. Story
January
Date: Jan. 19
Price: $576 million
Sun Pharma has plunked down a cool $576 million to go up against Eli Lilly's approved alopecia treatment with Concert's JAK inhibitorJAK inhibitor. Story
Date: Jan. 17
Price: $86 million
Leap Therapeutics hopped over to pick up Flame Biosciences for $86 million on a day busy with deals, adding another candidate to its pipeline. Story
Date: Jan. 17
Price: Undisclosed
In a merger of equals, 4SR Bio's sequencing technology will be brought over to hC Bio to identify more potential therapeutics. Story
Date: Jan. 17
Price: N/A
Elicio Therapeutics caught a ticket to the public markets via a reverse merger with Angion Biomedica to continue pushing a cancer vaccine into phase 2 trials. Story
Date: Jan. 9
Buyer: AstraZeneca
Price: $1.8 billion
AstraZeneca saw a good time to strike as CinCor Pharma's share price dropped throughout the winter of 2022. The U.K. pharma offered up $1.8 billion to bring on the blood-pressure-focused biotech, which is working toward a phase 3 study for aldosterone synthase inhibitor baxdrostat in uncontrolled hypertension. Story
Date: Jan. 3
Price: N/A
Blacksmith Medicines went back home in this transaction that saw the metalloenzymes-focused biotech spin right back into Forge Therapeutics. Blacksmith spun out of Forge in 2021. An entirely new entity, which the companies dubbed "the new Blacksmith," will emerge from the transaction to focus on oncology and infections. Story
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