Pfizer has completed its $11.6-billion acquisition of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, a New Haven, Connecticut-based bio/pharmaceutical company. The companies announced the acquisition in May (May 2022).

Biohaven’s lead assets center on the treatment of migraines. The company has a portfolio of calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonists (CGPR), including rimegepant, which is approved in the US under the brand name Nurtec ODT and in the European Union (EU) as Vydura. Rimegepant is approved for the acute and preventive treatment of migraines. It was first approved in the US in 2020 for the acute treatment of migraines and as a preventive treatment in 2021 and for both indications in the EU in April 2022. Nurtec ODT (rimegepant) posted 2021 net revenues of $462.5 million. Biohaven’s other key asset is zavegepant, an intranasal spray for the acute treatment of migraines, for which a new drug application was submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration in March 2022 and which is under FDA review (as reported on October 3, 2022) with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for review by the FDA in the first quarter of 2023. An oral softgel version of zavegepant, is under development. The company also has five preclinical programs of CGPR antagonists for treating migraines.

Pfizer’s full acquisition of Biohaven follows a $1.24-billion licensing deal by the companies, completed in in January (January 2022), for the commercialization outside of the US of rimegepant, and zavegepant. Under that deal, Pizer made an upfront payment of $500 million in Biohaven and took a 3% equity stake in Biohaven with Biohaven eligible to receive up to an additional $740 million in potential milestones.

Pfizer has now acquired all of the outstanding shares of Biohaven not already owned by Pfizer for $148.50 per share in cash, for a total transaction consideration of approximately $11.6 billion. As a result of the acquisition, Biohaven became a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer.

Prior to the closing of the acquisition, Biohaven spun off its non-CGRP development-stage pipeline compounds, to form a new company, Biohaven Ltd. That company’s assets include Kv7 ion channel activators, glutamate modulation and myostatin inhibition platforms, preclinical product candidates, and certain corporate infrastructure assets excluded from the Pfizer acquisition. Pfizer took a 3% stake in the new company.

Source: Pfizer