Sealing the deals

 

 

TOKYO—It was not the smoothest of journeys, but Feb. 10 saw Astellas finally put a bow on the deal it had signed back in November to acquire Ocata for $8.50 per share, or about $379 million. Ocata is now an indirect wholly owned subsidiary operating out of Marlborough, Mass.

 

But that’s after two extensions of the offering period. At the start, the Japanese Big Pharma had expected shareholders to accept the offer within a few weeks, but some very vocal investors were insisting the deal undervalued Ocata—some suggesting the offer should at least be doubled—and they started searching for white knights to make better offers or government regulators to intervene. Those shareholders managed to delay things long enough for Astellas to have to extend the offering period again in January, but ultimately their efforts did not move the needle on the offer nor bring in competing suitors.

 

Astellas focuses on urology, oncology, immunology, nephrology and neuroscience as prioritized therapeutic areas while advancing new therapeutic areas and discovery research leveraging new technologies/modalities. Ocata is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of new therapies in the field of regenerative medicine. Ocata’s most advanced products are in clinical trials for the treatment of Stargardt’s macular degeneration, dry age-related macular degeneration and myopic macular degeneration. Ocata’s intellectual property portfolio includes pluripotent stem cell platforms—hESC and induced pluripotent stem cell—and other cell therapy research programs.

 

 

MUMBAI, India—Cipla, a global pharmaceutical company that, as it says, “uses technology and innovation to meet the everyday needs of all patients,” announced Feb. 17 that its U.K.-based arm, Cipla (EU) Limited, has closed a $550-million transaction to acquire two U.S.-based companies: InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Hauppauge, N.Y., and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Lawrenceville, Ga. The combined revenue for the two companies for the year ended 2015 is over $230 million.

 

According to Cipla, this dual acquisition deal is the second landmark acquisition in Cipla’s 80-year history, the first being Cipla Medpro in South Africa. In announcing the generics acquisitions, Cipla said bringing them into the Cipla fold “will give scale to Cipla’s U.S. business—currently 8 percent of total revenue—as well as providing a launch pad to introduce Cipla’s pipeline of products in respiratory and injectables, among others, in the coming years.”

 

“The acquisition will further strengthen Cipla’s presence in the U.S. pharmaceutical market,” said Umang Vohra, global chief operating officer of Cipla Limited. “InvaGen’s balanced portfolio, robust manufacturing base and strong R&D capabilities will act as a lever to expand Cipla’s reach in the U.S. market.”

 

 

PRINCETON, N.J.—Feb. 22 saw BMS announce completion of the previously announced sale of its HIV research and development portfolio to Brentford, U.K.-based ViiV Healthcare, which includes a number of programs at different stages of discovery, preclinical and clinical development.

 

BMS received from ViiV a payment of $350 million in connection with the closing; in addition, BMS will receive from ViiV potential development and regulatory milestone payments of up to $518 million for the clinical assets, and up to $587 million for the discovery and preclinical programs. If and when products are approved and commercialized, ViiV will pay tiered royalties. Additionally, ViiV Healthcare will make sales-based milestone payments of up to $750 million for each of the clinical assets and up to $700 million for each of the discovery and preclinical programs.

 

None of these agreements with ViiV Healthcare impact any BMS marketed HIV medicines, including Reyataz, Evotaz, Sustiva and Atripla.