2015年3月11日讯 /生物谷BIOON/--近年来，生物医药产业大型收购案屡见不鲜，似乎并购已经成为生物医药领域一个永恒的主题。最近，艾伯维公司以210亿美元的价格宣布参加收购Pharmacyclics的竞争更是让不少产业人士大跌眼镜。那么在各大生物巨头已经用数以十亿计美元的收购费用四处并购之后，问题来了，谁会是医药群雄下一个争夺目标？
最近一些生物医药分析人士表示，Galapagos公司将可能成为下一个被争抢的香饽饽。
首先，Galapagos公司最近即将公布其口服类风湿性关节炎药物filgotinib的临床研究数据。而众所周知，艾伯维公司旗下治疗关节炎药物Humira即将失去专利保护，Humira在过去则扮演着艾伯维公司收入中的重要贡献者。因此，艾伯维公司如果希望尽快弥补这一缺失，那么Galapagos绝对在其收购名单上名列前茅。此外，强生公司也有望成为Galapagos公司的有力竞拍者。
另一方面，现有临床研究显示，作为一种新型的JAK1类抑制剂药物，filigotinib也有望用于治疗克劳恩氏病等炎症疾病。可以说，艾伯维公司已经对这一药物表现出强烈的兴趣。
此前艾伯维公司在2012年和Galapagos公司达成了一项总额13.5亿美元的合作协议。如果filigotinib取得更多的成绩，那么相信艾伯维公司很有可能将这家比利时生物技术公司整个收入囊中。
视线重新回到Pharmacyclics公司收购战，尽管艾伯维公司目前的报价已经惊爆了周边人士的眼球，但是仍不排除有更多的生物医药公司继续推波助澜。有传闻称辉瑞公司也对该公司表示兴趣。而辉瑞公司在最近两年更是凭借财大气粗兼并了许多有前景的生物医药公司。所谓“天下大势，分久必合”。相信未来数年内，企业兼并仍将成为生物医药产业的主旋律。
详细英文报道：
Now that AbbVie ($ABBV) has managed to astonish just about everyone in the biopharma business with its $21 billion takeover of Pharmacyclics, there's been a deluge of speculation over the next big target in the M&A game. Yesterday,Bloomberg's restless team of deal-watchers proffered Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY) as a possibility, seeing as how the Big Biotech is now the clear leader in immuno-oncology, where it could be in line for $15 billion in peak sales.
Today, Galapagos gets a turn in the spotlight.
Here's the reasoning via Bloomberg: Galapagos is prepping the release of key data on a drug called filgotinib, an oral rheumatoid arthritis drug that is partnered with AbbVie, which is looking at an upcoming patent loss on Humira--its main source of revenue. J&J ($JNJ), which is losing its Remicade franchise, has a stake in Galapagos. As J&J evidently was ready to pay big bucks for Pharmacyclics, but couldn't stomach a bid that would be needed to overcome a needy AbbVie, the two pharma giants may be willing to duke it out again for the much smaller Galapagos, which is worth about $650 million.
Filgotinib, by the way, is a JAK1 inhibitor also known as GLPG0634. It's also in the clinic for Crohn's disease and has applications in other inflammatory conditions. Prespinout, AbbVie agreed to a $1.35 billion deal on this drug back in 2012: $150 million upfront, a $250 million payment for a successful midstage program and a billion more in promised milestones.
"It's all about staying ahead of the curve," Bloomberg Intelligence's Asthika Goonewardene tells his colleagues on the reporting side of the business. AbbVie and J&J "are definitely looking to reduce their reliance on their older arthritis drugs."
Whether Belgium's Galapagos finds itself in a bidding war or not, pharma's appetite for biotech assets is clearly far from being sated. J&J and Pfizer ($PFE) reportedly were finalists in the final bidding for Pharmacyclics, and if both those big players are in the market for a major acquisition, more fireworks may well be ahead.
Chris Pultz, a money manager at Kellner Capital, put it this way to Bloomberg: "Now we know J&J's in the market. They're going to be looking for somebody else to buy because they're in kind of the same situation that everybody else is--they need to fill pipeline."
Pfizer has a history of paying top dollar wherever it goes, which explains their record-setting $850 million upfront on a preclinical IO asset at Merck KGaA. Their unsuccessful $118 billion bid for AstraZeneca ($AZN) started a lot of the magical thinking that now goes into takeovers.
Following the rationale that big players are willing to pay big bucks for pipeline assets, up to and including companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb, there are quite a few biotechs that fill the bill as takeover targets. Guessing the next target will be a full-time job for many.