Sanofi buys US biotech Kadmon for $ 1.9 billion

PARIS (Reuters) – Sanofi on Wednesday announced the acquisition of US biopharmaceutical company Kadmon for around $ 1.9 billion (€ 1.6 billion), which will allow it to strengthen its transplant business.

The operation allows Sanofi in particular to get its hands on the treatment Rezurock (belumosudil), the first drug in its pharmacotherapeutic class approved by the American health authority (FDA) for the treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease. adults and children from 12 years old.

Rezurock has been marketed in the United States since August.

“This asset is a real gem and we are happy to add it to our well-established portfolio of drugs indicated in the management of transplant patients,” said Olivier Charmeil, executive vice-president, general medicine, quoted in a press release.

“We are transforming and simplifying our general medicine business and we are now focusing on differentiated key assets in strategic markets,” he adds.

Under the merger agreement, holders of Kadmon common stock will receive $ 9.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valuing Kadmon at approximately $ 1.9 billion.

The purchase price represents a 79% premium over Kadmon’s closing price on September 7.

Sanofi plans to finance this transaction with its available cash.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, is expected to have a slightly accretive effect on Sanofi’s net earnings per share in 2022, the group said.

In early August, Sanofi also announced the purchase for $ 3.2 billion of the American biotech Translate Bio with which it is developing an mRNA-based (messenger RNA) vaccine against COVID-19.

(Report Bertrand Boucey and Blandine Hénault)