BENGALURU: Bristol Myers Squibb Co said on Monday it would buy MyoKardia Inc for about US$13 billion (RM54 billion) to bolster its portfolio of heart disease treatments, ahead of the potential loss of sales exclusivity of some of its blockbuster drugs.
The deal comes close on the heels of Bristol Myers’ US$74 billion acquisition of Celgene last year, which was aimed at creating an oncology giant and shielding itself from fierce competition for its cancer immunotherapy, Opdivo, from Merck & Co’s Keytruda.
Shares of MyoKardia, which have nearly doubled in value this year, surged another 57.8% to US$220.31, just shy of the offer of US$225 per share.
The deal will also help Bristol Myers reduce some of its dependence on cancer drugs and give it access to Myokardia’s lead heart drug candidate with blockbuster potential, mavacamten, adding to its existing portfolio of heart drugs that includes blood thinner Eliquis.
Eliquis, which made up about 21% of the company’s total sales in the latest reported quarter, faces US market exclusivity loss after 2026. The company’s top-selling cancer drug, Revlimid, will also lose some of its US patent exclusivity in 2022.
Bristol Myers said it expects mavacamten to be a “multi-billion dollar asset” and drive significant growth through 2025 and the second half of the decade.
“I think it is a typical acquisition premium for our sales expectations for mavacamten as we had estimates in the initial (and lowest risk) indication of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) of about US$2.5 billion by 2026,” said Wedbush analyst David Nierengarten, referring to the 61% premium offered by Bristol Myers.
Mavacamten is being developed to treat obstructive and non-obstructive forms of a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy â estimated to affect one in every 500 people globally.
MyoKardia expects to submit marketing application to the US health regulator for obstructive HCM in the first quarter of 2021 after the drug met the main goal of a late-stage study.
The company said the MyoKardia purchase would add to its earnings beginning in 2023. â Reuters
