Shire acquires Transkaryotic Therapies for $1.6bn
Shire Pharmaceuticals has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Transkaryotic Therapies in an all cash transaction valued at $37 per TKT share, or approximately $1.6bn.
Shire Pharmaceuticals has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Transkaryotic Therapies in an all cash transaction valued at $37 per TKT share, or approximately $1.6bn.
Shire chief executive officer, Matthew Emmens, said: 'This is an important and complementary acquisition that delivers on our strategy and brings to us a new, sustainable area of specialty pharmaceutical expertise in a market where there are only a small number of players. We expect that TKT's protein-based drugs and clinical development pipeline based on a proven technology platform will enable us to diversify and broaden our revenue base while continuing to grow our profits and further build our pipeline and platform for growth. We believe that this acquisition positions us well for the near and long term. We are looking forward to the prospect of working with our new colleagues from TKT.
Chief executive officer of TKT, Dr David Pendergast commented: 'We are extremely gratified that Shire has recognised the value of our business and the dramatic progress we have made, particularly, in the last two years. We believe the substantial resources and capabilities of Shire can accelerate the commercial opportunities of our products and future product candidates.'
Both companies utilise small, specialised sales teams, which interact with specialist physicians. Importantly, TKT will expand Shire's revenue generation in Europe and benefit from Shire's experience and sales teams in the renal and hematology areas.
Like Shire, TKT provides specific disease area expertise, a high quality product portfolio and a low-risk, well-balanced development pipeline with two attractive late-stage products. In addition, the ERT market provides a good platform for further expansion through research and product in-licensing. TKT's product development is driven by its search for missing enzymes to develop into medicines for affected patients. Like Shire, it does not conduct high risk discovery research and medicines for ERT generally benefit from fast development timelines.
Shire has successfully commercialised specialty products through an established infrastructure in the major pharmaceutical markets of North America and Europe and it expects to leverage this capability to realise the full potential of TKT's product portfolio. Furthermore, Shire has the financial capability to accelerate the development of TKT's pipeline.
The acquisition of TKT will allow Shire to diversify its revenue base and expand its specialty expertise into ERT. Enzyme disorders are relatively low risk drug development areas as the mechanisms of action are well established. Consequently, enzyme-related drugs have a high success rate in reaching the market. Most ERT drugs operate in niche areas with high unmet medical needs and qualify for orphan drug status.