Novartis and Pfizer intend to give up, Amgen or become the only bidder of Onyx pharmaceutical

August 14, 2013 -- Bloomberg reported on August 13 that people familiar with the matter disclosed that Novartis and Pfizer would not participate in the bidding for Onyx, making Amgen the only bidder   Novartis believes Onyx's current valuation is too expensive, Pfizer recently dropped its offer and AstraZeneca is still doing due diligence, the person said If AstraZeneca does not bid, Amgen will have no competitors   On August 6, Bloomberg reported that Amgen intended to raise its offer to buy Onyx for $130 a share At present, Amgen's offer is the highest, the person familiar with the matter said   On July 22, Bloomberg reported that Azn, Pfizer and Novartis are also preparing to bid for Onyx, while Amgen is still interested in acquiring Onyx   Onyx has previously rejected a $10 billion offer from Amgen Amgen's offer is $120 per share in full cash, but Onyx's Board believes that Amgen's offer seriously undervalues the company's value and prospects   According to analysts, the winner of the bidding will be kyrolis, the blood cancer drug of Onyx, whose sales are likely to soar nine times to $2.4 billion by 2019   Onyx's other products include the cancer drugs Nexavar (for liver and kidney cancer treatment) and stivarga (for gastric cancer treatment), which generated $362 million in revenue in 2012, with 80% of sales coming from these two drugs   English original text: Novartis, Pfizer said to be out of bidding for onyxby Kristen Hallam & David Welch - 2013-08-13t20:05:25znovartis Ag (novn) and Pfizer (PFE) Inc won't bid for Onyx pharmaceuticals Inc (onxx), the maker of cancer drugs, leaving Amgen Inc with only one possible rival remaining, according to people familiar with the situation
Onyx’s current valuation makes it too expensive for Novartis, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private Pfizer recently backed away from making a bid and is no longer doing due diligence, said one of the people London-based AstraZeneca Plc is still doing due diligence, that person said
Novartis, AstraZeneca and New York-based Pfizer had expressed interest in South San Francisco, California-based Onyx, the maker of Kyprolis, a blood cancer drug approved last year for some patients Amgen upped its initial $120-a-share bid to $130 a share last week, a person familiar with the matter said then If AstraZeneca doesn’t bid, Amgen, the world’s biggest biotechnology company by sales, would have no competition
Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland, still has people doing due diligence at Onyx, one of the people said None of the other companies, including AstraZeneca, has made a bid to rival Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen’s $130-a-share offer, the person said
Onyx is involved with several potential purchasers, Chief Executive Officer N Anthony Coles said Aug 9
Lori Melancon, a spokeswoman for Onyx, said the company wouldn’t comment on rumors and speculation Novartis spokesman Eric Althoff, Pfizer spokeswoman Joan Campion and AstraZeneca spokeswoman Esra Erkal-Paler declined to comment
Onyx declined less than 1 percent to $124.88 at the close in New York, giving the company a market value of about $9.16 billion.