Sobi To Acquire Dova Pharmaceuticals in $915-Million Deal
Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi), a Stockholm, Sweden-based pharmaceutical company specializing in treatments for rare diseases, has agreed to acquire Dova Pharmaceuticals, a Durham, North Carolina-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, by means of a tender offer valued at up to $915 million.
The acquisition of Dova will broaden the scope of Sobi’s product portfolio into hematology and enhance Sobi’s commercial presence in the US. The acquisition would provide Sobi with Doptelet (avatrombopag), Dova’s small-molecule thrombopoietin receptor agonist used in the treatment of thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet count). The drug is approved in the US for certain indications in thrombocytopenia and in Europe for treating chronic liver disease. It is in Phase III development for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia (CIT).
The tender offer consists of an upfront payment of $27.50 per share in cash and one non-tradeable contingent value right (CVR). The CVR entitles Dova shareholders to an additional $1.50 per share upon approval of Doptelet for use in CIT by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The transaction is valued at up to approximately SEK 9.0 billion ($915 million) on a fully diluted basis. The tender offer is conditioned on the tender of a majority of the outstanding shares of Dova’s common stock. Any shares of Dova common stock not tendered will be acquired through a merger effected as soon as practicable following the tender offer closing, for the same per share consideration.
Dova was founded in 2016 to commercialize Doptelet, a second generation small-molecule thrombopoietin receptor agonist used in the treatment of thrombocytopenia by increasing platelet count. Doptelet has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in adults with chronic liver disease and for chronic immune thrombocytopenia in adults who have had an insufficient response to previous treatment. Doptelet has been approved by the European Medicines Agency for chronic liver disease, and a European filing for the chronic immune thrombocytopenia indication is expected in 2020, according to Sobi.
Sobi expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Source: Swedish Orphan Biovitrum and Dova Pharmaceuticals