Xconomy: The Biggest Bargains Pharma Scooped Up in the Down Years
Summary
This drug, idelalisib, passed its first pivotal study in slow-growing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and just nailed another Phase III trial in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.A competitor now a couple years behind idelalisib in development, Cambridge, MA-based Infinity Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INFI), is worth more than $700 million largely on the promise of its PI3k drug.By paying $2.4 billion in September 2009 for Princeton, NJ-based Medarex—a price many investors thought too high—Bristol-Myers got ahold of what now appears to be a trailblazing cancer immunotherapy franchise.It’s still pretty early to truly judge this deal in historic terms, but Genentech has continued to deliver big innovations with trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla), pertuzumab (Perjeta), and now the coming ‘son of Rituxan’ still known as GA101.“It’s the goose that keeps laying golden eggs,” said David Lowe, CEO of Austin, TX-based Aeglea BioTherapeutics, a former partner with Skyline Ventures, and a former scientist at Genentech.