French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi is strengthening its position in rare immunological diseases with the acquisition of American biotech company Blueprint Medicines, a move that is part of its ongoing strategy to become a global leader in immunology.
For this major acquisition announced Monday, Sanofi, which regularly markets in the United States, will pay $129 per share, representing a value of approximately $9.1 billion (more than €7.9 billion).
"Subject to the completion" of several clinical development and regulatory milestones, the total valuation could rise to $9.5 billion (€8.3 billion), according to the French group.
This announcement comes a few days after the pharmaceutical group announced the failure of one of the two phase 3 studies — the last stage before possible commercialization — concerning its experimental treatment, itepekimag, against smoker's bronchitis (COPD).
On the Paris Stock Exchange, the share fell by 1.65% in a market down by 0.46% at 3:20 p.m.
The acquisition of Blueprint is the largest since Bioverativ, acquired in 2018 for $11.6 billion.
It "significantly strengthens our position in rare diseases, particularly systemic mastocytosis," summarized CFO François Roger during a conference call.
The portfolio acquired from Blueprint primarily includes the molecule avapritinib, the only drug approved to treat advanced and indolent systemic mastocytosis in the United States where it is marketed under the name Ayvakit.
The drug is also approved in the European Union under the name Ayvakyt for the treatment of adults with indolent systemic mastocytosis, the most common and slowly progressing form of the disease.
Systemic mastocytosis is a rare disease of the immune system in which mast cells, which play a key role in the body's defense, accumulate abnormally in several organs of the body.
They are mostly found in areas such as the skin, lungs or digestive tract.
– “Relevant acquisitions” –
This transaction will also allow Sanofi to add two other drugs in development to its portfolio, one in an advanced stage in systemic mastocytosis (elenestinib) and the other in an early phase, BLU-808 presented as having "the potential to treat a broad range of diseases in immunology."
"The goal is not to make acquisitions for the sake of it, but to ensure that we find acquisitions that are relevant from a strategic and scientific point of view, with differentiated assets and that offer an adequate return to our shareholders," emphasized CFO François Roger.
"Over the past ten years, Sanofi has invested 40 billion euros in mergers and acquisitions and business development," he explained.
"We lost only 10%, or 4 billion euros, which is not a lot in reality, and almost entirely in the oncology area," and "the recent decisions taken regarding oncology and the remaining 36 billion have generated a lot of value," he added.
In 2019, Sanofi took a turn by refocusing its research and development activities on immunology and rare diseases, a reorientation which resulted in a gradual disengagement from oncology research.
The acquisition of Blueprint will be accompanied by "an immediate increase in our gross margin and expected positive impacts on operating income and earnings per share after 2026," Mr. Roger said.
Sanofi entered the rare disease market by purchasing the American biotech company Genzyme in 2011 for around $20 billion.
After Genzyme, it acquired Bioverativ in 2018, which opened the doors to the hemophilia treatment market, and Principia Biopharma in autoimmune diseases in 2020 for $3.7 billion.
"If you look at the value of this acquisition (Principia Biopharma), it has probably increased three or four times today," the CFO cited as an example.
Still in the field of autoimmune diseases, Sanofi also decided on Monday to extend its collaboration launched in 2019 with the American company Nurix Therapeutics by taking an exclusive license on its platform for developing targeted therapies against inflammatory diseases including atopic dermatitis and asthma.
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