MSD is reported to be on the brink of announcing a takeover deal for Cidara Therapeutics, an infectious disease specialist currently focused on developing a preventive antibody-based therapy for influenza.
According to the Financial Times, MSD – known as Merck & Co in the US and Canada – is preparing to announce a $9.2 billion transaction to take control of Cidara, potentially as early as today.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report suggested two companies have been negotiating with Cidara over a sale, and MSD has emerged as the preferred bidder with an offer of $221.50 per share for the 14-year-old, San Diego-based company.
If so, it’s another example of competition among pharma groups for biotech companies with promising assets that have passed proof-of-concept clinical testing, coming after Pfizer’s acrimonious battle with Novo Nordisk to take control of obesity drug developer Metsera. Pfizer closed the $10 billion deal yesterday.
Cidara, which specialises in developing a form of antibody-drug conjugate called drug-Fc-conjugates (DFCs), is in the process of running the phase 3 ANCHOR trial of CD388 as a potential prophylactic therapy for people at increased risk of complications from influenza, as well as those seeking alternatives to flu vaccines, that would work regardless of what strains of the virus are circulating.
A few weeks ago, the company won a $339 million award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to help advance CD388, shortly after it showed protective efficacy of up to 76% against flu in the phase 2b NAVIGATE trial.
Since then, on the advice of the FDA, it expanded the parameters of the ANCHOR trial to include not only people vulnerable to flu because of comorbidities or compromised immunity, but also generally healthy adults over the age of 65 – a change that Cidara said almost doubles the eligible population for CD388 if it reaches the market.
Predictions of the peak sales potential for CD388 vary, but range from around $2 billion to more than $4 billion in the US alone
Cidara has already brought one product to market – the antifungal Rezzayo (rezafungin) – but licensed commercial rights to the product to partners and divested all its rights to the drug last year.
Shares in Cidara had rocketed more than 60% after the FT broke the takeover rumour, trading at around $170, more than six times their value at the start of the year.
