Radius Health, a biopharmaceutical company that has commercialized an osteoporosis drug and is developing new treatments for cancer and rare diseases, has reached protocol To be acquired by two private equity firms for $890 million.
Under financial terms announced Thursday, Gurnet Point Capital and Patient Square Capital will acquire all Radius shares for $10 per share. The price represents a 12.2% premium to Radius’ Wednesday closing price and a 45% premium to the average price over the past 30 days.
Radius shareholders can earn more. The transaction comes with a contingent value right, which is an additional payment related to certain future events. In this case, the right is an additional $1 per share if Radius’ osteoporosis drug Tymlos hits $300 million in net sales in the 12 months to the end of 2025. Upfront plus fully paid contingent value rights totaled $547 million in cash. In addition to these payments, the private equity firm also agreed to take on Boston Radius’ debt. This brings the total deal value to $890 million.
Radius Chairman Owen Hughes said on a conference call Thursday morning that the acquisition was the result of a strategic review over the past nine months with the goal of maximizing shareholder value.
“We believe this transaction delivers immediate value and liquidity to Radius shareholders and provides Radius with the clearest path forward against the backdrop of volatile markets, particularly volatile biotech markets,” Hughes Say.
The deal has been unanimously approved by Radius’ board, but Hughes said the company will not answer any questions until it submits documents to regulators.
Injected once daily, Tymlos is a peptide drug that treats osteoporosis by targeting pathways involved in bone formation. In clinical trials, the drug resulted in an increase in bone mineral density and a decrease in fractures.U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approval of Tymlos in 2017, making it Radius’ first (and so far only) product approval. In 2021, the drug’s sales were $218.9 million, up 5% from the previous year. Radius had tried to develop a more convenient version of the drug that could be administered through a transdermal system. But late last year, the company reported that the formulation did not meet the primary or secondary goals of a phase 3 clinical trial.
The osteoporosis drug market is highly competitive. Eli Lilly’s drug Forteo (Forsteo outside the US) was approved by the FDA in 2002. The drug, which accounted for $801.9 million in 2021 sales, fell 23% from the previous year as rivals eroded its market share. Prolia, the FDA-approved Amgen antibody drug in 2010, was a bestseller with global sales of more than $3.2 billion last year.Amgen adds another antibody osteoporosis drug Approval of Eventity 2019. The drug generated $530 million in global sales last year, according to Amgen’s financial report.
Radius may soon have the opportunity to add another revenue-generating product to its portfolio.Radius and partner Menarini Group on Wednesday submit New Drug Application to the FDA for elacestrant, a drug developed for patients with ER-positive and HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer. This small molecule is called a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD). AstraZeneca’s fulvestrant, an injectable drug, is the main SERD product available. The goal of Radius and other developers of oral SERDs is to provide an oral alternative that may have better efficacy. In 2020, Radius licensed the global rights to elacestrant to the Menarini Group, headquartered in Florence, Italy.
Hughes said the acquisition of Radius is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. The transaction is not subject to any financing conditions. OrbiMed Advisors is providing debt financing for Gurnet Point and Patient Square.
Cancer biotech firm F-star Therapeutics to be acquired for $161 million
Invox Pharma, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited, has reached an agreement get Clinical-stage cancer drug developer F-star Therapeutics is trading at $7.12 a share. That price represents a nearly 79% premium to the biotech’s closing price on Wednesday.The deal values F-star at $161 million
Cambridge, UK-based F-star is developing bispecific antibodies, drugs that target two targets simultaneously. Four biotech projects have entered the clinic. The state-of-the-art FS118 is designed to block two “checkpoint” proteins, LAG-3 and PD-L1. The drug is currently in a phase 2 trial in patients with head and neck cancers resistant to PD-1 inhibitors. It is also in Phase 2 testing in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who have not been previously treated with checkpoint inhibitors.
The boards of both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of this year.
Photo: Andrei Popov, Getty Images
