Tesaro has reportedly tried to sell itself before, but to no avail. But its newly lowered share price may be sparking some new buyout interest.
The company has brought on financial advisers to help it weigh a sale after drawing attention from a potential suitor, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources. Those advisers have started reaching out to other potential buyers, too.
A Tesaro spokesperson did not return a request for comment by press time.
It’s not the first time the Waltham, Massachusetts-based drugmaker, which markets PARP inhibitor Zejula, has weighed a sale. Last summer, the company put itself up for grabs and reportedly generated interest from then-M&A-starved Sanofi and another party, which was rumored to be Gilead.
This time, though, Tesaro’s recent stock-price woes may be fueling the fire. The company saw its shares hammered earlier this month when phase 1 data on an immuno-oncology combination underwhelmed investors. It’s also locked in an intensely competitive battle with PARP rivals Clovis Oncology and an AstraZeneca-Merck team, which market Rubraca and Lynparza, respectively.
And while both Sanofi and Gilead have since struck other sizable deals—Gilead nabbed CAR-T drug maker Kite for $11.9 billion, while Sanofi forked over $11.6 billion for hemophilia specialist Bioverativ—either could still find the prospect of swallowing Tesaro appealing, Wedbush Securities Inc. analyst David Nierengarten told Bloomberg.
“A company like Gilead that’s been expanding their oncology efforts would make a lot of sense, … but at these prices, it could be just about anyone with an oncology focus looking to get a product tucked into their portfolio,” he said, as quoted by the news service.
By Carly Helfand
Source: Fierce Pharma
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Sanofi has ended a long-running alliance with Sangamo Therapeutics to develop genetic medicines for inherited blood disorders, among them an experimental sickle cell disease therapy that is in early clinical testing.
The two have been developing complex, personalized treatments, led by a sickle cell drug known as SAR445136. But Sanofi is now more interested in off-the-shelf approaches, which are meant to be more convenient.
