Takeda Pharmaceutical has completed its previously announced acquisition of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for $24 per share in cash, or an enterprise value of approximately $5.2 billion. The acquisition was completed through a tender offer and subsequent merger of Ariad with Kiku Merger, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, making Ariad an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda. Takeda announced the acquisition in January 2017.

With the acquisition, Takeda gains two targeted rare-cancer therapies, Iclusig (ponatinib), a commercialized leukemia drug, and brigatinib, an investigational drug under development for lung cancer. Iclusig is approved for chronic myeloid leukemia and a subset of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The drug had 2015 sales of $112.5 million.

Brigatinib is a late-stage drug candidate being evaluated for the potential treatment of a genetically defined subpopulation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The drug has a peak annual sales potential of over $1 billion, according to Ariad. A new drug application for brigatinib is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration, and a Prescription Drug User Fee Act date has been set for April 2017. Ariad also filed a marketing authorization application with the European Medicines Agency for the drug in February 2017 seeking marketing approval in the European Union for treating anaplastic lymphoma kinase NSCLC.

In addition to the two rare-cancer drugs, Takeda gains a pipeline that includes targeted kinase inhibitors as well as Ariad’s translational science-based research and development platform.

In connection with the merger, all Ariad shares not purchased in the tender offer have been converted into the right to receive $24 per share in cash, without interest (less any required withholding taxes), the same amount paid for all shares validly tendered and not validly withdrawn in the tender offer. Ariad common stock will cease to be traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

Source: Takeda Pharmaceutical