It’s January, which means one thing: The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco is back on, and drugmakers of all shapes and sizes are doing their best to woo investors.
Like in past years, the industry whetted appetites with pre-conference deal announcements, even if those unveilings weren’t nearly as dramatic as last year’s Bristol Myers-Celgene merger. Biotech companies trotted out some smaller tie-ups, including Incyte and Biogen’s announcing deals Monday valued at $750 million and $75 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, we got some developments from last year’s megamerger as Bristol-Myers CEO Giovanni Caforio took the stage—and some news from Novartis from its November MedCo deal that could shake up the PCSK9 market. Several other big players jumped out to a fast start on-site Monday, with Regeneron, BioMarin and more set to present.
Will even bigger deals follow? Stay tuned with FiercePharma’s and FierceBiotech’s ongoing coverage here and here.
In a whirling week of dealmaking and limited space, our FierceBiotech team had one question in mind: Where do all the mattresses go? A cherished tradition of hosting investor meetings in emptied-out hotel rooms during JPM’s weeklong networking extravaganza creates a logistical challenge, with hotels forced to shuttle unused mattresses into rooms that could otherwise sell for hundreds of dollars per night. But for the smaller players in San Francisco this week, even more creative solutions must be found. Story
Last year, Bristol-Myers stole the show with its $74 billion deal agreement for Celgene. But one year later, with the deal just recently closed, CEO Giovanni Caforio says BMS has made “great progress” with integration: Its leadership teams are in place, it’s designed the new company’s operating model, and things are coming together smoothly on the commercial and R&D sides. But in other ways, it’s just getting started. Story
While 2020 hasn’t started in similar style, a report from EY’s experts suggests M&A the rest of the year should be just as strong as last—but this time around, biotech and medtech could play a bigger part. And with $1.4 trillion in dealmaking firepower at hand, the healthcare industry can certainly afford it. Story
Case in point: Incyte, fresh off a trial flop early this month, agreed to pay $750 million for licensing rights to MorphoSys‘ anti-CD19 antibody tafasitamab, which is facing an FDA approval decision in combo with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Revlimid in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Incyte will pony up the $750 million to license the drug, buy $150 million in MorphoSys shares and shell out up to $1.1 billion if future milestones go the right way. Story
Biogen, diving even further into Alzheimer’s R&D, will pick up Pfizer’s early-stage candidate PF-05251749 for a tidy $75 million. The drug is a CK1 inhibitor that moved into the clinic on the strength of evidence it can cross the blood-brain barrier and regulate circadian rhythms, thereby improving behavioral and neurological symptoms in patients with diseases including Alzheimer’s. On top of its $75 million check, Biogen will shell out up to $635 million in milestone payments if development and commercialization targets are met. Story
As Regeneron prepares for its JPM presentation Monday afternoon, the drugmaker will likely highlight booming sales of its eye med Eylea, which hit $4.14 billion in 2019––a 14% increase over the previous year––according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the fourth quarter, Eylea nabbed an estimated $1.22 billion in global sales, a 13% jump, the drugmaker said. Eylea nabbed an FDA nod in May to treat all stages of diabetic neuropathy, a condition that affects about 8 million people worldwide, the company said.
Looking for a game-changer in biotech, EQRx and its CEO, Alexis Borisy, has raised $200 million in funding for a new kind of company—one with a mission to create “equally good or better drugs” and sell them at cheaper prices. The new company will focus on equivalars, essentially new medicines designed after existing meds or soon-to-debut therapies. But according to Borisy, EQRx meds will not infringe other companies’ intellectual property and will be protected by their own patents. Story
As all biotech watchers know, the San Francisco Bay Area isn’t just the home of JPM. But soon, in addition to HQs for some of the biggest names in the business, SFO will house a state-of-the-art R&D facility for Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit. The biotech unit penned a deal for space in The Shore at Sierra Point in Brisbane, California––a region the drugmaker deems to be a “critical innovation hotbed.” Janssen said the expansion will help it bridge “key interdisciplinary capabilities” such as biology and data science to “fuel a step-change in how it creates medicines.” It didn’t say whether it would be employing new staffers nor how many. Story
