Sanofi continues its transaction record with $1.9 billion Acquisition agreement Kadmon Holdings is the manufacturer of a recently approved drug that can treat common and potentially fatal complications in transplant surgery.
According to financial terms announced on Wednesday, Sanofi will pay $9.50 per share for Kadmon, which is a 79% premium to the company’s closing price of $5.30 on Tuesday and approximately 113% higher than the average transaction price in the past two months. But the purchase price is still lower than Kadmon’s price of $12 per share. Listed in 2016As a listed company, it has never reached a peak in five years.
Kadmon, headquartered in New York, develops drugs for immune and fibrotic diseases and cancer. The core of this acquisition is Rezurock, a drug for the treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). This condition can develop after bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. The transplanted cells treat the host cells as foreign bodies and attack them, causing inflammation. The first line of GVHD treatment includes steroids. Immunosuppressive drugs, such as Sanofi’s thymoglobulin, can also be used.
Rezurock provides another option for transplant patients. The drug is a small molecule that blocks Rho-related frizzled E. coli kinase 2 (ROCK2), a protein that plays a role in the body’s inflammatory response. In July, the FDA approved Kadmon drugs are used to treat patients 12 years and older who do not respond to at least two early systemic treatments.
The acquisition of Kadmon will allow Rezurock to join Sanofi’s lineup of small transplant products. In addition to thymoglobulin, which had sales of 316 million euros last year, the French-based pharmaceutical giant also sells Mozobil, a drug that helps the bone marrow release stem cells into the blood so that they can be collected for transplantation. Mozobil has sales of 214 million euros in 2020. These two drugs are currently sold in more than 65 countries. Kadmon President and CEO Harlan Waksal sees this acquisition as a way for Rezurock to benefit more patients.
“By leveraging Sanofi’s global resources and long-term expertise in developing and commercializing innovative drugs, Rezurock is now in a good position to achieve global access faster,” he said in a prepared statement.
Sanofi said it will work hard to bring Rezurock to more markets around the world. The drug can also have other applications. Kadmon has been developing this small molecule for the treatment of systemic sclerosis, a rare autoimmune disease that affects the skin, joints, internal organs, and blood vessels. An open label second phase study is already underway. Another Kadmon drug, KD033, is a fusion protein in an early stage of development for the treatment of solid tumors.
The past year has been a busy year for Sanofi in terms of transactions.Last month, the company announced a Translate Bio’s $3.2 billion acquisition agreement, Messenger RNA developer.The transaction follows Formation of mRNA vaccine units It will receive 400 million euros in support each year. In April, Sanofi acquires Tidal Therapeutics for US$160 million, A preclinical company, is developing a method for designing immune cells in patients.
Sanofi said it will use available cash to fund the Kadmon acquisition. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction, but the approval of Kadmon’s majority shareholders is still required. The two companies are expected to complete the transaction in the fourth quarter of this year.
Photo: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images
