Takeda Makes Cash Tender Offer for Ariad

Takeda Pharmaceutical has begun a cash tender offer, through its wholly owned indirect subsidiary, Kiku Merger, for all outstanding shares of the common stock of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts-headquartered oncology-focused pharmaceutical company as part of Takeda’s previously announced $5.2 billion acquisition of Ariad announced on January 9, 2017.

Upon closing of the tender offer, stockholders of Ariad will receive $24 per share in cash, net of applicable withholding taxes and without interest. Following the purchase of shares in the tender offer, Ariad will become an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda.

The tender offer is scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern time) on Wednesday, February 15, 2017, unless extended. The closing of the tender offer is subject to customary terms and conditions, including the tender of a number of shares, which, together with shares then owned by Takeda (if any), represents a majority of the outstanding shares, and the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

With this proposed acquisition, Takeda would gain 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 patients. Brigatinib has a peak annual sales potential of over $1 billion, according to Ariad. US approval for the drug is expected in the first half of 2017 with global filing thereafter. In addition, Takeda gains a pipeline that includes targeted kinase inhibitors as well as Ariad’s translational science-based research and development platform.

Source: Takeda Pharmaceutical 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *