Amgen seals $28m deal for biotech
Two rivals withdrew from acquisition process | Agreement provides access to blockbuster medicines | Janssen Global Services | Sanofi.
California-headquartered Amgen has agreed to acquire Horizon Therapeutics, as other potential suitors for the Ireland-based biopharmaceutical company developed cold feet.
In a release shared yesterday, December 12, Amgen said that it planned to acquire Horizon Therapeutics for $28.3 billion through Pillartree, a newly formed private limited company wholly owned by Amgen.
Late last month, Horizon confirmed that it was engaged in “highly preliminary discussions” with Amgen, Janssen Global Services, and Sanofi which might lead to an offer being made for the entire share capital of Horizon.
Sanofi made a total of three proposals to acquire the company before Horizon’s board determined the proposed price was sufficient to allow Sanofi to receive a management presentation and access to limited additional information to support a further enhanced offer.
The board then approached three other companies, including Amgen and Janssen, each of which made offers. In early December, Janssen told Horizon’s financial advisors that it had decided not to submit a proposal to acquire Horizon.
Then, on Sunday, December 11, Sanofi said that it had evaluated the deal and found that Horizon’s price expectations do not meet Sanofi’s value creation criteria, so it did not intend to make an offer for the biopharmaceutical company.
According to Horizon, Amgen’s and Sanofi’s competing proposals were discussed in a meeting last weekend, with Horizon’s board determining that Amgen's proposal was superior to Sanofi's and accepted it.
Robert Bradway, chairman and CEO of Amgen, said: "The acquisition of Horizon is a compelling opportunity for Amgen and one that is consistent with our strategy of delivering long-term growth by providing innovative medicines that address the needs of patients who suffer from serious diseases.”
Under the deal, Amgen will gain access to biologic medicines Tepezza (eprotumumab-trbw), Krystexxa (Pegloticase) and Uplizna (inebilizumab-cdon). These three early life cycle products collectively generated $2 billion of sales through the first nine months of 2022.
The acquisition follows on from a busy year of mergers and acquisitions for Amgen. In August this year, Amgen announced plans to acquire ChemoCentryx, a biopharmaceutical company focused on therapeutics for autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders and cancer.
As part of the $3.7 billion deal, Amgen is set to acquire Tavneos (avacopan), a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as an adjunctive treatment for adult patients with severe active anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody vasculitis-associated vasculitis (a group of multi-system autoimmune diseases with small vessel inflammation).
Last year, Amgen announced it would acquire Five Prime Therapeutics and Rodeo Therapeutics Corporation to strengthen its portfolio, as well as biotech company, Teneobio.
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