Johnson & Johnson has bowed out of a potential merger with Actelion, opening up the field for an unconfirmed contender widely believed to be French drugmaker Sanofi.
The US healthcare giant confirmed that it has withdrawn from discussions over a potential takeover, which would have bolstered its lung disease offering with Actelion’s pulmonary arterial hypertension portfolio.
The firm did not give a detailed reason for the move, saying only that it had not been able to reach an agreement that would create adequate value for its shareholders.
But Reuters has cited people close to the situation saying that the Swiss biotech told J&J that it could attract an offer significantly above the approximate 250 Swiss francs per share (reportedly around $27 billion) it had laid on the table, and that there were issues over the deal structure.
Actelion confirmed that it is “engaged in discussions with another party regarding a possible strategic transaction,” but stressed that “there can be no certainty at this point that any transaction will result”.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that this party is Sanofi, also citing people close to the situation.
By Selina McKee
Source: Pharma Times
The companies will explore opportunities to apply Flagship’s innovative bioplatforms – an ecosystem that currently comprises 41 companies – to scientific challenges in disease areas within cardiometabolic and rare diseases and initiate research programmes based on these.
BD is expanding its long-running partnership with the blood collection company Babson Diagnostics. The two companies have been working together since 2019 on a device that can gather small volumes of blood from the capillaries in the fingertip without requiring any specialized training, and beginning with a focus on supporting primary care in retail settings.
Wednesday, Australian biotech CSL said (PDF) the regulatory review of its $11.7 billion acquisition of Switzerland’s Vifor Pharma will take “a few more months,” suggesting it won’t be able to close the transaction by June 2022 as previously expected.
