What will Gsk do with Sierra Oncology?
GSK has reached a $ 1.9 billion deal to acquire US biopharmaceutical company Sierra Oncology, which specializes in therapies for rare forms of cancer. All the details, projects and forecasts
British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (Gsk) today entered into an agreement to acquire US biopharmaceutical company Sierra Oncology for $ 1.9 billion.
The agreement, among other things, comes just as GSK is preparing to launch Haleon , the company that will be born from the spin-off of the Consumer Healthcare division, which includes brands such as Sensodyne, Voltaren, Panadol and Multicentrum.
THE DETAILS OF THE AGREEMENT
This morning, GSK announced on its website that it will acquire Sierra Oncology for a total consideration of $ 1.9 billion, or $ 55 per share in cash.
The price per share, Radiocor writes, represents a premium of about 39% over Sierra Oncology's closing share price on April 12 and a premium of about 63% over its volume-weighted average price over the past 30 days. negotiation.
The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter.
WHAT SIERRA ONCOLOGY DOES
Sierra Oncology, headquartered in California, is a late-stage, Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company committed to finding targeted therapies to treat rare forms of cancer.
For example, it is currently developing a drug, Momelotinib, to address the medical needs of myelofibrosis patients with anemia. But the history of this drug goes back further. Sierra Oncology, in fact, acquired it in 2018 from Gilead Sciences for 198 million dollars.
THE DRUG GSK WANTS
Momelotinib, reads the statement published by Gsk, "can lead to beneficial treatment effects on anemia and reduce the need for transfusions, also treating symptoms".
In January 2022, following the Phase III MOMENTUM study, Sierra Oncology announced positive results. In fact, the study met all the main primary and secondary endpoints, demonstrating that the drug obtained a "statistically and clinically significant benefit on symptoms, splenic response and anemia".
WHY GSK CHOSEN SIERRA ONCOLOGY
Luke Miels, Chief Commercial Officer of GSK explained that Sierra Oncology complements their commercial and medical experience in hematology. Momelotinib offers a differentiated treatment option that could address the significant unmet medical needs of myelofibrosis patients with anemia, the main reason patients discontinue treatment. With this proposed acquisition, we have the opportunity to potentially bring significant new benefits to patients and further strengthen our portfolio of specialty medicines. "
Gsk, according to Radiocor , considers the transaction a business combination and expects it to increase adjusted earnings per share in 2024, the first full year expected for the sales of Momelotinib.
GSK'S ONCOLOGICAL PIPELIN
After the disappointments resulting from some cancer treatments that seemed promising (such as bintrafusp alfa and feladilimab) and the loss that will come at the end of 2027 of the patent exclusivity on the HIV drug, dolutegravir (which is worth about 3.9 billion dollars in annual sales), GSK now hopes to make up for it with this latest acquisition that will complement Blenrep, the company's treatment for another form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma.
Last year, Gsk's cancer therapies business accounted for about 2.8 percent of total pharmaceutical sales, Reuters reports.
Momelotinib, according to what the news agency wrote, citing the forecasts of an analyst from investment bank HC Wainwright, could generate sales peaks of 950 million dollars in the United States and 780 million dollars outside the United States.
SATISFACTION BY SIERRA ONCOLOGY
Sierra Oncology's board unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote in favor of the merger and Stephen Dilly, president and chief executive officer of Sierra Oncology said: “The merger with GSK creates the best opportunity for Sierra Oncology to realize its mission to provide targeted therapies that treat rare forms of cancer, while also offering convincing and certain value for our shareholders ”.
"Now – he concluded – we have a partner with a global infrastructure and oncology experience that allows us to provide Momelotinib to patients as quickly as possible and on a global scale".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/cosa-fara-gsk-con-sierra-oncology/ on Wed, 13 Apr 2022 10:56:58 +0000.