Shares of Medarex soared after Bristol-Myers said it would pay $2.4 billion to acquire the company. Medarex is a biotech that since 2005 has been helping Bristol-Myers develop a promising treatment for melanoma. The deal packs a beefy 90 percent premium that we’re told makes sense, given the scarcity value of the company’s “transgenic” mouse technology. The mice are souped-up with human immune systems that are able to generate fully human antibodies that can be used as drugs.
The deal could help Bristol-Myers regain its stature as one of the world’s leading players in the oncology market, and help it develop treatments for immunologic conditions such as arthritis, lupus and psoriasis, Ransdell Pierson reports.
Smaller-cap biotech payoffs have been capturing a lot of attention of late. Human Genome Sciences showed just how exciting the sector can be. Positive data on its experimental lupus drug caught Wall Street by surprise and led its shares to nearly quadruple on Monday.
As Bill Berkrot reports, the surprising success earlier this year of Dendreon’s experimental cancer vaccine, FDA approval of AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc’s iron replacement drug, and the Human Genome Sciences news may prove to be pivot points for small biotechs. Big pharma has clearly taken notice, and the biotech space this morning is looking like the lucky number for an M&A market that has been struggling to find its footing in the economic malaise.
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Medarex shareholders have taken extrordinary risks over the years with this company. Now that Medarex is about to capitalize on its pipeline, BMS is offering medarex shareholders a fraction of what this company is truly worth
The fact that Medarex management negotiated and accepted an offer of $16.00 dollars per-share is an outrage.
Considering the long-term benefits to BMS and the fact that Ulti-mab antibody platform is the Gold Standard in human antibody technology, it is clear to me that Medarex Management should have attempted to obtain a better price for their shareholders.
Depending on many factor BMS stands to make between 6 and 10 billion dollars and possibly more over the next decade, as antibodies generated by medarex technology achieve market status.
The fact that Mr. Pien, current Medarex CEO isgoing to be paid a muti-million dollar bonus is very disconcerting outrage as well.Medarex shareholders can do better than this
- Posted by James