Business
Bristol-Myers will invest about $100 million in uniQure, the two companies announced on Monday. Bristol-Myers will have exclusive access to the Dutch company’s proprietary gene therapy program for congestive heart failure, reports the Wall Street Journal. The two companies will collaborate on 10 targets in total and may work on future projects in other disease areas. Bristol-Myers will pay about $100 million. This includes an upfront payment of $50 million, a $15 million payment for selecting two collaboration targets, and a $32 investment in UniQure that represents a 4.9% stake in the company. Bristol-Myers will acquire an additional 5% ownership before the end of the year at a 10% premium. UniQure can receive at least an additional $254 million if certain milestones are reached. It is also eligible for $217 million for other gene therapy products.
Amsterdam-based UniQure will make supplies using its insect-cell based manufacturing platform. Bristol-Myers will pay for research and development costs as well as lead development and commercialization. “This collaboration will accelerate the application of gene therapy for large patient populations suffering from heart diseases and will complement the further development of UniQure’s internal pipeline,” UniQure Chief Executive Joern Aldag said. New York-based Bristol-Myers is poised for a management shift, with Chief Operating Officer Giovanni Caforio set to become chief executive in May. Dr. Caforio, a trained physician, will succeed CEO Lamberto Andreotti, who will become chairman of the board.
UniQure's shares jumped more than 55 percent on Monday after Bristol-Myers said it would pick up a 4.9 percent stake in the company, writes Reuters. UniQure's gene therapy drug, Glybera, went on sale last year priced at 1.1 million euros. Glybera fights the ultra-rare genetic disease lipoprotein lipase deficiency, which clogs the blood with fat. Investor interest in the field of gene therapy has grown in the past 18 months, with Bluebird Bio Inc, uniQure NV and Spark Therapeutics Inc all staging successful floats on the Nasdaq. Bayer AG struck a gene therapy deal with Dimension Therapeutics in June, while France's Sanofi SA has a long-standing tie-up with Oxford BioMedica.
