Sanofi reports billion-dollar acquisition

Last Updated: 25. Januar 2024By

The biotechnology sector is currently moving at a rapid pace. European companies are also increasingly active on the buyer side. Now, the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi strikes again and strengthens itself with a billion-dollar deal in the field of rare diseases.

Sanofi – the pharmaceutical giant from France Sanofi is an international pharmaceutical company based in France. The company was formed in its current form in 2004 through the merger of Sanofi-Synthelabo and Aventis. Through subsidiaries, collaborations or joint ventures, the group is mainly represented in Europe, the USA, and Japan.

In its research, Sanofi focuses primarily on the areas of diabetes/metabolism, cardiovascular, thrombosis, central nervous system, internal medicine, oncology, and the development of vaccines.

In the past fiscal year 2022, the group achieved a net profit of 8.3 billion euros on an annual turnover of 45.38 billion euros.

Acquisitions play an important role In addition to organic growth, the French have also repeatedly relied on targeted acquisitions in recent years. On the shopping list were, among others, mRNA specialist Translate Bio for 3.2 billion dollars, antibody specialist Kymab for 1.1 billion dollars, US biotech company Principia Biopharma for 3.7 billion dollars, cancer drug manufacturer Synthorx for around 2.5 billion dollars, and immunotherapy specialist Amunix for over 1 billion dollars.

Targeting rare diseases Now, Sanofi wants to further strengthen itself with another acquisition. The pharmaceutical company Sanofi is paying up to 2.2 billion dollars for a medication project of the US biotech company Inhibrix. The French are thus securing access to the protein INBRX-101, which is being developed to treat the rare genetic disease AATD. The active ingredient is in the beginning stages of a phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of AATD. The disease is caused by a lack of the protein alpha-1 antitrypsin in the blood, which increases the risk of lung and liver disease.

Houman Ashrafian, head of research and development at Sanofi, said: „The inclusion of INBRX-101 in our portfolio for rare diseases underlines our strategy to focus on differentiated and potentially first-class products.“

Unusual structure of the acquisition The activities not related to the project will be transferred to a new company called „New Inhibrix.“ Inhibrx shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, $5 in contingent value rights (CVR), and 0.25 shares of New Inhibrix.

This paves the way for a „new Inhibrix“, which will contain all assets except the lead program INBRX-101. Sanofi will hold 8% of the new company.

Stock price below the acquisition price for a good reason Inhibrx has accepted the acquisition offer of $30 per share, while Inhibrx stock was last trading above $33. The price below the market price reflects the fact that Sanofi is only buying one molecule.

Sanofi’s shares were fairly unaffected by the billion-dollar deal and were trading with a slight decline in yesterday’s midday trading.

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