ALEXION TO BUY SINAGEVA BIOPHARMA IN U$S8,4 BILLIONS RARE DISEASE MEGADEAL
by Vidya L. Nathan, Natalie Grover and Bill Berkrot

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc said it agreed to buy Synageva BioPharma
Corp for $8.4 billion, more than twice its market value, to expand its offering
of potentially high-priced medicines for rare diseases.
Alexion's willingness to pay an eye-popping premium for Synageva
demonstrates that the appetite for large acquisitions in healthcare continues
unabated. It also highlights the attraction of medicines for rare diseases that
can command exceptionally high prices with little payer pushback because of the
limited number of patients.
Alexion's lone product, Soliris, a treatment for two extremely rare
life-threatening conditions, is among the world's most expensive drugs. The
medicine, which can cost more than $500,000 per year, generated sales of $2.23
billion in 2014.
The companies' combined developmental pipelines would give Alexion eight
experimental medicines in clinical trials for 11 diseases, the company said.
That includes Synageva's Kanuma, which is awaiting U.S. and European approval
to treat a rare and potentially fatal condition that causes a build-up of fat
in the blood and liver.Alexion Chief Executive David Hallal expressed confidence that Kanuma sales
will eventually exceed $1 billion.
The deal would also give Alexion Synageva's SBC-103, an experimental enzyme
replacement therapy for a rare genetic disorder that has both orphan status and
fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That should
speed up the approval process and, in the event of approval, confer an
additional seven years of marketing exclusivity, an incentive for developing
medicines for small patient populations.
"I think Alexion wanted to do something big. There aren't many
opportunities ... to do that, and so this is their big shot," said Paul
Yook, portfolio manager at BioShares Biotechnology Funds, which holds stakes in
both companies.
Yook said the announcement could put Alexion in the
takeover crosshairs. "Anybody who's been looking at them now will have to
make a move more quickly if they don't want to acquire Synageva as well".
MORE RAISED EYEBROWS
Alexion is offering $115 in cash and 0.6581 of its shares, or $225.92 per
Synageva share, more than double its closing price of $95.87 on Tuesday.
"While some investors may be picking their jaws off the floor at such
a valuation, we note that Synageva has only disclosed a fraction of its
development efforts," Baird Equity Research analyst Christopher Raymond
said.
Synageva's shares soared on Wednesday, ending regular trading at $203.39,
up 112 percent. Alexion shares traded as low as $150.06 before finishing at $155.01,
down 8 percent, a sign of investor dissatisfaction with the price the company
agreed to pay for Synageva.
Paul Hudson, president of AstraZeneca's U.S. operations, speaking at the FT
US Healthcare and Life Sciences Conference in New York, said he expects to see
"more raised eyebrows" over future deal valuations. Whether you end
up paying a high valuation is based on "whether you see some magic that
others don’t see," he said.
The deal would provide a windfall for Baker Brothers Investments, which
owns about 32 percent of Synageva and stands to make $2.68 billion.
There has been a steady wave of recent deals and takeover efforts in
healthcare, including AbbVie's nearly $21 billion deal for Pharmacyclics and
Pfizer's planned $16.7 billion purchase of Hospira.
In the rare-disease space, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries bought Auspex
Pharmaceuticals for $3.5 billion, and Shire acquired NPS Pharmaceuticals for
$5.2 billion. Meanwhile, Teva is pursuing generic drugmaker rival Mylan, which
rejected a $43 billion offer and is itself trying to buy Ireland-based Perrigo,
which in turn rebuffed Mylan's $34 billion bid.
Source: REUTERS
Haciendo click en cada uno de los links siguientes,
accederán a los Contenidos de nuestros
TALLERES DE CAPACITACIÓN IN COMPANY "A MEDIDA"
de las necesidades de su Organización,
y aplicados específicamente al Sector Salud y Farma
Curso Taller ¿Cómo INCORPORAR y APLICAR Modelos de
PENSAMIENTO ESTRATÉGICO? 2015:
Curso Taller de PLANEAMIENTO ESTRATÉGICO
Recetas Eficientes para Escenarios Turbulentos 2015:
Curso Taller ¿Cómo implementar
ESTRATEGIAS EFECTIVAS? 2015:
Curso Taller ¿Cómo GERENCIAR EFICIENTEMENTE
a partir del MANAGEMENT ESTRATÉGICO? 2015:
Curso Taller ¿Cómo GERENCIAR PROCESOS DE CAMBIO
y no sufrir en el intento? 2015:
Curso Taller de LIDERAZGO TRANSFORMACIONAL
y TOMA DE DECISIONES
para la Resolución de Problemas 2015:
Consultas al mail: msg.latam@gmail.com
ó al TE: +5411-3532-0510
Miguel Angel Medina Casabella, MSM, MBA, SMHS .·.
Representante de The George Washington University en Foros y Ferias de LatAm desde 2001
Representante de The George Washington University Medical Center para LatAm desde 1998
CoFundador y Miembro del Consejo Directivo, GW Alumni Association, Capítulo Argentino, desde 2009
CEO, MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm
TE Oficina: ( 0054) 11 - 3532 - 0510
TE Celular (local): ( 011 ) 15 - 4420 - 5103
TE Celular (Int´l): ( 0054) 911 - 4420 - 5103
Skype: medinacasabella

es una Consultora Interdisciplinaria cuya Misión es proveer
soluciones integrales, eficientes y operativas en todas las áreas vinculadas a:
Estrategias Multiculturales y Transculturales,
Management Estratégico,
Gestión del Cambio,
Marketing Estratégico,
Inversiones,
Gestión Educativa,
Capacitación
de Latino América (LatAm), para los Sectores:
a) Salud, Farma y Biotech,
b) Industria y Servicios,
c) Universidades y Centros de Capacitación,
d) Gobierno y ONGs.
No comments:
Post a Comment