Sanofi announces the purchase of the American company Principia Biopharma

The French pharmaceutical industry giant Sanofi announced on Monday its intention to acquire the American Principia Biopharma, which specializes in treatments for autoimmune diseases. The transaction, which should be completed by the end of the year, will have a value of 3.68 billion dollars (about 3.1 billion euros), the two companies announced this Monday.

The French company hopes, with this operation, to achieve a "reinforcement of the main R&D domains of autoimmune diseases and allergies," it said in a statement. "This acquisition furthers our ongoing R&D transformation to accelerate the development of the most promising drugs to serve critical patient needs," said Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson.

According to the data of the agreement, the operation, which has been approved “unanimously” by the boards of directors of both companies, foresees that Sanofi will launch an offer for the acquisition of all the ordinary shares of Principia Biopharma at a price of 100 dollars each. The completion of the offer, which should begin this August and should have been completed in the last quarter of the year, is conditional on obtaining at least the majority of those ordinary shares outstanding. Once closed, the titles that have not been contributed will become a right to receive those same $ 100 in cash, Efe points out.

The acquisition follows a successful first collaboration. In 2017, Principia granted you a worldwide exclusive license to develop and commercialize its BTK brain penetration inhibitor '168 (Bruton tyrosine kinase) for the treatment of plaque sclerosis and other diseases of the central nervous system. Now, "by taking comprehensive control of the BTK inhibitor, we are removing the complexities of that priority development program and simplifying the future commercialization of this product," explained Hudson.

"The successful design and development of an entire portfolio of BTK inhibitors for immunology seeks to transform treatment for patients with immunologically-caused diseases," added Principia President Martin Babler. “By combining with Sanofi, we will contribute significant resources to expand and accelerate the potential benefits of these therapies. This merger will provide global resources to make these new therapies reach patients faster ”, it was promised.

Sanofi is one of the pharmaceutical companies immersed in the race against time to find a vaccine against the coronavirus. Last spring, its manager Hudson caused a political earthquake in France by saying that the US market would have priority if it gets a vaccine, since it is the one that brings the most risks and funding for research. His words caused such a stir - the French president himself, Emmanuel Macron, ended up summoning the directors of the French company - that the company had to qualify his words. On July 31, the European Union announced an agreement with Sanofi to have 300 million doses of the vaccine if the French pharmaceutical company manages to manufacture a "safe and effective" remedy.