Behind the large-scale "buy, buy, buy", multinational pharmaceutical companies cannot escape the mid-life crisis

In response to the impending patent cliff, multinational pharmaceutical companies are accelerating the pace of "buy, buy, buy"

As the patent cliff is approaching and competition is intensifying, there have been acquisition news from a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies recently

In the past few days in August alone, a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies have announced acquisition news, and most of them are willing to pay a premium for this, in order to obtain faster and higher profit returns and find the next high performance growth point

Pfizer: The acquisition is not bad money

After making a lot of money on new crown products last year, Pfizer has made frequent acquisitions to expand its pipeline, and this year it has accelerated the pace of acquisitions

On August 8, Pfizer announced a definitive agreement with the biopharmaceutical company Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) to acquire all outstanding shares of GBT for $68.

After the news was announced, GBT's stock price rose by more than 37%, but even so, GBT's market value was still only $3.

Sickle cell disease affects more than 3 million people worldwide and causes chronic pain, organ failure and early death in patients

Pfizer has been interested in the recessive genetic disorder, but one of its long-developing drugs failed in 2019 and another is in early development

And GBT's innovative therapy Oxbryta (voxelotor) is relatively successful

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the above-mentioned acquisition cases this year, Pfizer acquired the pharmaceutical company Biohaven for US$11.

Sanofi: Cinda for 600 million euros

On August 3, Sanofi purchased 300 million euros (equivalent to RMB 2.

In addition, according to the cooperation agreement, the two parties will collaborate on the development and commercialization of two of Sanofi's clinical-stage core potential first-in-class (First-in-Class) tumor pipelines

It should be pointed out that, on top of the commercial cooperation in the traditional sense, Sanofi has deeply participated in the cooperation of Cinda in the form of equity.

As we all know, the patent of Sanofi's blockbuster product Dabitux will expire in 2028.

Therefore, in recent years, Sanofi has been very active in the layout of new technologies.

According to incomplete statistics, there were two Sanofi M&A transactions in 2020, with a total transaction value of US$6.

Amgen: $3.
7 billion to expand inflammation/kidney disease pipeline

On August 4, Amgen and ChemoCentryx jointly announced that the two companies have reached an agreement that Amgen will spend about $3.
7 billion to acquire ChemoCentryx
.
The acquisition, which gives Amgen access to Tavneos (avacopan), a "first-in-class" drug for patients with severe autoimmune disease, will further strengthen its leadership in inflammation and nephrology
.

Analysts believe that with the acquisition, Amgen not only got the pipeline product it wanted, but also a blockbuster that could earn $2 billion by 2030
.

In addition to Tavneos, ChemoCentryx has 3 early-stage drug candidates, including early-stage candidates targeting chemokine receptors in other inflammatory diseases, and a potential anticancer oral checkpoint inhibitor
.

You know, Amgen's top-selling arthritis drug, Enbrel, has been facing stiff competition from new branded treatments, with second-quarter sales down 8% to $1.
05 billion
.
Additionally, the patent for the therapy is expected to expire in 2029
.
Therefore, in the face of fierce competition and declining sales of mature products, Amgen urgently needs new growth points
.

Gilead: buy MiroBio for $405 million

Also on August 4, Gilead Sciences announced the acquisition of MiroBio, a privately held biotechnology company, for $405 million
.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Oxford, UK, MiroBio is the 8th company spun out of Oxford University to focus on developing checkpoint agonist antibodies to restore immune balance in patients with autoimmune diseases
.

The acquisition will provide Gilead with MiroBio's proprietary drug discovery platform and entire R&D portfolio of immunosuppressive receptor agonists
.

How to reduce the impact of the patent cliff on future company performance has become a "mid-life crisis" for major multinational pharmaceutical companies
.
Among the many solutions, mergers and acquisitions have become the most commonly used and the simplest means
.
Moreover, judging from the current revenue of most multinational pharmaceutical companies, the cash they have on hand is enough to support non-stop "buy, buy, buy"
.
Especially in the market environment where the overall valuation of innovative drugs is declining, it has brought more acquisition opportunities for multinational pharmaceutical companies
.

According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of 2022 alone, the valuation of mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry has reached US$61.
7 billion, with more than 130 transactions
.
PwC expects more M&A deals in the second half of the year
.

References:

[1] Dandelion: "Pfizer, Amgen, Gilead and other pharmaceutical companies open M&A model"

[2] MedTrend Medical Trends: "$3.
7 Billion! Amgen Acquires Expanded Autoimmune Disease Drugs

[3] Pharmaceutical Guanlan: "Which companies have Pfizer, Gilead Sciences, Amgen, AstraZeneca, etc.
acquired since 2022?"

[4] Sina Pharmaceutical: "M&A in the global pharmaceutical industry in the first half of 2022: Pfizer has the largest number of transactions and the largest amount"

[5] Zhitong Finance: "Strong performance superimposed on hot mergers and acquisitions of US stocks biotechnology sector to open a strong second half of the year"

[6] Medical Economics News: "Premium purchase "buy, buy, buy"! Pfizer's $5.
4 billion "heavy money for medicine" set off another wave of mergers and acquisitions! 》

[7] Titanium Media: "Behind Sanofi's accelerated buying, buying and buying, big pharmaceutical companies cannot escape the mid-life crisis"

[8] International Finance News: "Foreign giant Sanofi is interested in Chinese oncology drugs, 600 million euros to buy the bottom of Innovent Bio, and the chief commercial officer resigns on the same day"