What Are the Most Important Acquisitions in 2018?

At the beginning of 2019, BMS has annouced to acquire Celgene with an equity value of $74bn. What are the most important acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry in 2018?

1. Novartis makes offer to acquire French CDMO CellforCure

Novartis has made an offer to acquire CellforCure, a France-based contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) producing cell and gene therapies in Europe, from LFB for an undisclosed amount.

2. Astellas Pharma Acquires Potenza Therapeutics

Astellas Pharma Inc. has exercised its exclusive option to acquire Potenza Therapeutics, Inc., paying $164.6 million upfront and additional payments of as much as $240.1 million, depending on the progress of various programs. The acquisition follows the successful outcome of a collaboration agreement entered in 2015 to build a portfolio of novel immuno-oncology (IO) therapies. The clinical IO therapies developed may also provide a platform for IO combinations with Astellas' existing non-IO programs for life cycle management and future novel IO combinations.

3. AMAG Pharmaceuticals Enters Into Definitive Merger Agreement to Acquire Perosphere Pharmaceuticals

Through this acquisition, AMAG will acquire global rights to ciraparantag, a next generation anticoagulant reversal agent, further enhancing its development pipeline and leveraging AMAG’s expertise in hematology.

4. GSK reaches agreement to acquire TESARO, an oncology focused biopharmaceutical company

The transaction will significantly strengthen GSK's pharmaceutical business, accelerating the build of GSK's pipeline and commercial capability in oncology.

5. Purdue Pharma L.P. Enters into Exclusive Option Agreement to Acquire SpineThera, Inc. and Its Non-Opioid Product

The agreement provides Purdue the exclusive option to acquire SpineThera, Inc. and gain worldwide rights to its products and technology platforms, including lead asset SX600, a novel dexamethasone containing microsphere that is in development for epidural administration for low back pain. This technology has potential for development of non-opioid treatments for acute and chronic pain.

6. Roche's Genentech to acquire inflammatory drug discovery firm Jecure

The proposed acquisition will give Genentech full rights to Jecure’s entire preclinical portfolio of Receptor Family Pyrin Domain Containing Protein 3 (NLRP3) inhibitors similar to nucleotide-binding oligomerisation.

7. Boehringer Ingelheim acquires MabVax’s programme for solid tumours

Boehringer Ingelheim has entered an asset acquisition and licence agreement for US-based biotechnology firm MabVax Therapeutics’ programme designed to target a glycan that is commonly overexpressed on various solid tumours cancers.

8. Sun Pharmaceutical agrees to acquire Japan’s Pola Pharma

The $1m deal will enable Sun to bolster its global dermatology business. Pola Pharma’s portfolio primarily consists of dermatology products.

9. Endocyte Enters Into Agreement to be Acquired by Novartis AG for $2.1 Billion

This offer represents a premium of 54% percent to Endocyte’s closing price of $15.56 on October 17, 2018.  The transaction was unanimously approved by the board of directors of Endocyte.

10. Cambrex to Acquire Halo Pharma, Adding Drug Development and Finished Dosage Capabilities to Global API Manufacturing Network

With the acquisition of Halo, Cambrex will enter the large and growing finished dosage form CDMO market.

11. Telix to Acquire ANMI for €5.15M

The acquisition of ANMI significantly expands the market opportunity for Telix’s investment in prostate cancer imaging and builds on the existing commercialization collaboration for the illumetTM prostate imaging (68Ga-PSMA) kit for the US market.

12. Lonza Acquires Octane Biotech

Lonza has acquired a controlling stake in Octane Biotech, with the right to acquire full ownership. The increase in equity share will allow Lonza to further develop the technology to support the growing need for scalable autologous manufacturing. Octane Orthobiologics Inc. will maintain exclusivity to a certain subset of orthopedic clinical indications for use in the Cocoon system.

13. Novo Nordisk acquires Ziylo Ltd to accelerate its development of glucose responsive insulins

The acquisition gives Novo Nordisk full rights to Ziylo's glucose binding molecule platform to develop glucose responsive insulins.

14. J & J announces Offer to Acquire Ci:z Holdings Co., Ltd.

The acquisition will include the Company's range of brands comprising Dr.Ci:Labo, Labo Labo and Genomer line of skincare products.

15. In Second Gene Therapy Buy of the Year, Novartis Acquires AveXis for $8.7B

This is Novartis’s second deal in the gene therapy market this year. In January, Novartis inked a licensing and supply deal with Spark Therapeutics to develop, register and commercialize Spark’s gene therapy Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec) outside the U.S. Luxturna is a one-time gene therapy to treat patients with biallelic mutations of the RPE65 gene.

16. Agilent Tech to acquire Lasergen for $105M

An emerging biotechnology company focused on research and development of innovative technologies for DNA sequencing, for $105 million.

17. Allergan to Acquire Bonti for $195M

Allergan has agreed to acquire Bonti, Inc., a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology compa-ny focused on the development and commercialization of novel, fast-acting neurotoxin pro-grams for aesthetic and therapeutic applications, for an upfront payment of $195 million and additional potential commercial milestone payments. (Also read: Allergan to acquire Australian biotech startup Elastagen)

18. Lilly to acquire AurKa Pharma

Eli Lilly and Company announced an agreement to acquire AurKa Pharma, Inc., a company established by TVM Capital Life Science to develop oncology compound AK-01, an Aurora kinase A inhibitor that was originally discovered at Lilly.

19. Japan's Otsuka Pharma to acquire Visterra for $430 mn

"This transaction affirms the power of Visterra's novel technology platform, the promise of our product candidates, and the value our employees and shareholders have created. Our two companies share a common culture of creativity and innovation, and commitment to patients with kidney diseases, cancer and other hard-to-treat diseases. Joining forces with Otsuka will provide Visterra the resources, support and commitment to accelerate development of our pipeline and fully realize the potential of our technology platform," said Brian J. G. Pereira, MD, CEO of Visterra.

20. Cipla to acquire South African drug firm for $33M

The deal will also increase Cipla’s manufacturing footprint in Africa.

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