"Johnson & Johnson buying Cambridge biotech Momenta for $6.5b; The deal is the largest drug industry merger of the year." by Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff, August 19, 2020
The health care products giant Johnson & Johnson will buy Cambridge biotech Momenta Pharmaceuticals for $6.5 billion in the largest drug industry merger this year.
The deal to acquire Momenta for $52.50 a share was announced Wednesday morning by the companies, and represents a 70 percent premium to Momenta’s closing price on Tuesday.
Funded in 2001, Momenta has a pipeline of novel drug candidates for diseases stemming from problems with the immune system. They are based on technology discovered and developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among the figures who played a key role in the company’s scientific approach is Robert Langer, a world-renowned professor and entrepreneur at MIT.
He's the common denominator and connection to you-know-who, and he is a “a big believer in masks” as well as vaccines.
“The agreement with J&J recognizes the value created by years of commitment and dedication to our mission by the many current and past Momenta employees,” said Craig Wheeler, Momenta’s chief executive. “I believe J&J is the right company to advance our portfolio of novel drug candidates for autoimmune and rare diseases.”
The merger was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close later this year.
It gives New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson full global rights to nipocalimab, an experimental treatment for a variety of autoimmune diseases from maternal-fetal disorders to neuro-inflammatory conditions. Nipocalimab recently received a rare pediatric disease designation from the Food and Drug Administration.
“This acquisition broadens Janssen’s leadership in autoimmune diseases and provides us with a major catalyst for sustained growth,” said Jennifer Taubert, executive vice president for Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceuticals division, Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos.
I would just like to remind the women out there that this is the same company that knew their talc powder caused cancer and didn't say a word for decades.
Please take a Momenta to con$ider that.
Now roll up your sleeve for their vaccine!
The merger comes almost two years after Momenta dramatically restructured the biotech, cutting its workforce by half — 110 jobs ― and gutting much of its leadership team.
During the restructuring in October 2018, the company said it would reduce spending on the development of generic versions of costly biotechnology drugs, known as biosimilars, and focus on a pipeline of drugs for autoimmune diseases.
Momenta expected to save about $250 million over five years by cutting its workforce and eliminating programs.
In 2016, Momenta suffered a major setback when it halted a clinical trial of an experimental treatment for pancreatic cancer, after an independent panel found that the drug didn’t work well enough to keep the study going.
Analysts said the merger was the biggest of the year. In March, Gilead Sciences, the Foster City, Calif.-maker of the COVID-19 drug remdesivir, agreed to pay $4.9 billion to buy cancer drug maker Forty Seven in another major acquisition.
Johnson & Johnson is one of a handful of companies that have developed promising COVID-19 vaccines as part of the public-private partnership known as Operation Warp Speed. The company developed the vaccine with the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
The vaccine uses a common-cold virus to deliver part of the coronavirus into cells to stimulate the immune system to fight off an infection. J&J and the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority have invested more than $1 billion in the effort.
My immune system doesn't need to be stimulated for it functions just fine!
Btw, BARDA is like DARPA, and the cocktails all link back to the same guys.
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Related:
"Johnson & Johnson said it has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the United States, the latest in a string of such pacts between the government and pharmaceutical companies. The drugmaker said in a statement on Wednesday that it had entered into an agreement with the US government for the large scale domestic manufacturing and delivery in the United States of 100 million doses of its Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit’s SARS-CoV-2 investigational vaccine. The US government has forged a series of deals with companies such as Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. to secure access to the vaccines the companies are developing for the coronavirus."
Also see:
Johnson & Johnson hikes forecast on higher drug sales
Now be a patriot and take your pills!
