French drugmaker Sanofi is acquiring a company from which it in-licensed a multiple sclerosis drug in 2017.
The Paris-based company said Monday that it would spend $3.68 billion to acquire South San Francisco, California-based Principia Biopharma, which is developing BTK inhibitors and other drugs to treat conditions such as multiple sclerosis, immunological and inflammatory diseases.
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Shares of Principia were up more than 9% on the Nasdaq when markets opened Monday. Shares of Sanofi were up less than 1% on the Euronext Paris exchange and 1.6% on the Nasdaq.
“This acquisition advances our ongoing R&D transformation to accelerate development of the most promising medicines that will address significant patient needs,” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said in a statement. “The addition of multiple BTK inhibitors to our pipeline demonstrates our commitment to strategic product acquisitions in our priority therapeutic areas.”
The deal gives Sanofi full control of SAR442168, a BTK inhibitor that it in-licensed from Principia in 2017 and that is being developed for multiple sclerosis, which is in a Phase III trial that enrolled its first patient in June, as well as opportunities for the drug’s expansion into other diseases. Another BTK inhibitor Sanofi is acquiring is rilzabrutinib, which is in a Phase III trial for patients with moderate to severe pemphigus, an autoimmune disease that causes blistering of the skin and mucous membranes and is expected to enter another Phase III study, in immune thrombocytopenia, by the end of this year, assuming no impact from Covid-19. A third drug from Principia is PRN473, a topical BTK inhibitor in Phase I trials and being developed for immune-mediated diseases.
Several BTK inhibitors are currently on the market, mainly for blood cancers.
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The companies said their respective boards had unanimously approved the deal, and in a note to investors, Baird analyst Brian Skorney wrote that it was highly likely to go through, with no bidders apart from Sanofi anticipated to be interested given the firms’ close relationship. He further added that it was unlikely that any antitrust concerns would arise given that the companies were already partnered in multiple sclerosis and the state of Sanofi’s autoimmune disease business.
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