Mergers and acquisitions are part of the lifeblood of the pharmaceutical industry, as companies flex their pocketbooks to acquire pipelines and talent to bolster and complement their own programs. While there were significant moves during the past 12 months, 2021 has largely been quieter than previous years.
As the year comes to a close, BioSpace takes a look back at some of its biggest mergers and acquisitions.
CSL Nabs Vifor in $11.7 Billion Deal
CSL closed out the year with one of the most expensive acquisitions. In December, the Australia-based company acquired Vifor Pharma for $11.7 billion. Although the deal has yet to be finalized, when it is completed, CSL will gain Vifor’s pipeline of drugs aimed at treating iron deficiency, kidney and cardio-renal diseases. This includes vamifeport (VIT-2763), an oral ferroportin inhibitor being studied in diseases with ineffective production of red blood cells and iron overload conditions, such as beta-thalassemia or Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Last year, Vifor secured U.S. rights to Korsuva (difelikefalin) Injection for the treatment of chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) following a partnership with Cara Therapeutics.
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Additionally, as BioSpace previously reported, CSL will also gain Vifor’s production facilities in Switzerland and Portugal.
Acquisitive Merck
The second-largest pharma deal of the year was Merck’s $11.5 billion deal to acquire Acceleron Pharma and its Phase III pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug sotatercept. In 2019, sotatercept received Orphan Drug Designation for PAH from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The deal was met with some resistance by shareholders who believed the acquisition price was undervalued, but by November, the deal was completed. Not only had shareholders opposed the acquisition, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that, after Merck made its intentions known, Acceleron reached out to other companies regarding a potential deal. Primarily, Acceleron reached out to Bristol Myers Squibb, which, at the time, owned about 11% of Acceleron. BMS and Acceleron jointly developed the blockbuster drug Reblozyl, which was approved in 2019.
In addition to snapping up Acceleron, Merck began 2021 with the February acquisition of autoimmune-focused Pandion Therapeutics in a $1.85 billion deal. Merck said the acquisition added a pipeline of drug candidates that target a broad range of autoimmune diseases. That includes PT101, an engineered IL-2 mutein fused to a protein backbone designed to selectively activate and expand regulatory T cells (Tregs) for the potential treatment of ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune diseases.
Source: Biospace