Alex Philippidis Senior News Editor Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Who bought who last year? Find out here.

How do you feel when you hear the word “merger”? Some people hear a cashbox “cha-ching!” in their heads and ponder what new enhancements the buying company will add to the purchased company’s products; others cringe and wonder how much longer the lines at the unemployment office will get. Whether you jump for joy or quiver in terror at the thought of another M&A, you still want to know when they happen and which were the biggest ones—and that’s where this list comes in.

GEN has compiled a list of the top 25 merger and acquisition deals in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and molecular diagnostics that were completed or announced in 2012, as announced by the companies involved. Some deals include footnotes breaking down the components of the deal price, such as upfront and milestone payments. Premium is the percentage above the closing price on the last day a stock traded shares before the announcement of an M&A deal.

#25. YM Biosciences

Acquired by: Gilead Sciences

Price: $510 million

Deal Announced: Dec. 12

Premium: 81%

#24. Proximagen Group

Acquired by: Upsher-Smith Laboratories

Price: $573.8 million1

Deal Completed: Aug. 14

Premium: 16%

#23. Amdipharm

Acquired by: Mercury Pharma

Price: $591 million2

Deal Announced: Oct. 15

Premium: N/A

#22. Taro Pharmaceuticals

Acquired by: Sun Pharmaceuticals

Price: $600 million3

Deal Announced: Aug. 13

Premium: -3.6%

#21. Mustafa Nevzat Pharma

Acquired by: Amgen

Price: $700 million

Deal Completed: June 12

Premium: N/A

#20. EUSA Pharma

Acquired by: Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Price: $710 million4

Deal Completed: June 12

Premium: N/A

#19. Mercury Pharma

Acquired by: Cinven

Price: $748.7 million5

Deal Completed: Sept. 3

Premium: N/A

#18. Healthpoint Biotherapeutics

Acquired by: Smith & Nephew

Price: $782 million

Deal Completed: Dec. 24

Premium: N/A

#17. URL Pharma

Acquired by: Takeda Pharmaceutical

Price: $800 million6

Deal Completed: June 4

Premium: N/A

#16. Pronova BioPharma

Acquired by: BASF

Price: $868 million7

Deal Announced: Nov. 217

Premium: 24%

#15. One Lambda

Acquired by: Thermo Fisher Scientific

Price: $925 million

Deal Completed: Sept. 13

Premium: N/A

#14. Avila Therapeutics

Acquired by: Celgene

Price: $925 million8

Deal Completed: March 8

Premium: N/A

#13. Micromet

Acquired by: Amgen

Price: $1.16 billion

Deal Completed: March 7

Premium: 33%

#12. Ardea

Acquired by: AstraZeneca

Price: $1.26 billion

Deal Completed: June 19

Premium: 54%

#11. Fougera

Acquired by: Novartis

Price: $1.525 billion

Deal Completed: July 23

Premium: N/A

#10. Par Pharmaceuticals

Acquired by: TPG Capital

Price: $1.9 billion

Deal Completed: Sept. 28

Premium: 37%

#9. Dako

Acquired by: Agilent Technologies

Price: $2.2 billion

Deal Completed: June 21

Premium: N/A

#8. Inhibitex

Acquired by: Bristol-Myers Squibb

Price: $2.5 billion

Deal Completed: Feb. 13

Premium: 163%

#7. Medicis

Acquired by: Valeant Pharmaceuticals

Price: $2.6 billion

Deal Completed: Dec. 11

Premium: 39%

#6. Boston Biomedical

Acquired by: Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma

Price: $2.63 billion9

Deal Completed: April 24

Premium: N/A

#5. Human Genome Sciences

Acquired by: GlaxoSmithKline

Price: $3 billion

Deal Completed: Aug. 3

Premium: 99%

#4. Gen-Probe

Acquired by: Hologic

Price: $3.8 billion

Deal Completed: Aug. 1

Premium: 20%

#3. Amylin Pharmaceuticals

Acquired by: Bristol-Myers Squibb

Price: $5.3 billion10

Deal Completed: Aug. 8

Premium: 101%

#2. Actavis Group

Acquired by: Watson Pharmaceuticals11

Price: $5.547 billion11

Deal Completed: Oct. 31

Premium: N/A

#1. Pharmasset

Acquired by: Gilead Sciences

Price: $11.2 billion

Deal Completed: Jan. 17

Premium: 90%

Notes:
1 Upsher-Smith agreed to pay Proximagen £223 million up-front plus up to £133.8 million tied to development milestones for two drug candidates, obesity drug PRX00933 and a VAP-1 antagonist for rheumatoid arthritis. Figures converted to USD via XE on Jan. 3, 2013.
2 Figures converted from announced purchase price of £367 million via XE on Jan. 3, 2013. Cinven said Oct. 15 it planned over time to merge Amdipharm with Mercury Pharma.
3 Sun has offered to acquire, at $39.50 per share, the remaining 33.5% of Taro shares not already owned by Sun.
4 Jazz Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay Eusa Pharma $650 million up-front, about $30 million up-front toward working capital, cash and certain liabilities; plus an up-to-$50 million milestone payment tied to lead product Erwinaze™ (asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi) achieving an undisclosed U.S. net sales target in 2013.
5 Converted from announced purchase price of £465 million via XE on Jan. 3, 2013. Cinven acquired Mercury Pharma from Hg Capital Trust.
6 Takeda agreed to pay URL Pharma $800 million upfront, plus an undisclosed amount in milestone payments related to performance.
7 Converted from announced purchase price of EUR NOK 4.845 billion via XE on Jan. 3, 2013. On Dec. 20, 2012, BASF said it would extend its offer for ProNova BioPharma until Jan. 18, 2013.
8 Celgene agreed to pay Avila Therapeutics $350 million up-front, plus up to $575 million in milestone payments related to AVL-292, a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor candidate, and candidates from Avila’s discovery program.
9 Dainippon Sumitomo agreed to pay Boston Biomedical $200 million up-front, up to $540 million in development milestone payments for its two clinical-stage programs—BBI608 for colorectal cancer and BBI503 for advanced solid tumors—and up to $1.89 billion in milestone payments tied to achievement of several undisclosed net sales targets, the last payment tied to net sales of greater than $4 billion in any fiscal year.
10 The value of the deal swells to $7 billion when Amylin’s net debt and a contractual payment obligation to Eli Lilly & Co. totaling $1.7 billion are included.
11 Watson changed its name to Actavis on Jan. 1, 2013. Figures converted from announced purchase price of €4.25 billion via XE on Jan. 3, 2013.

Previous articleIllumina Acquires Verinata Health
Next articleJ.P. Morgan Buzz: January 7, 2013 Update