French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) will likely succeed in
its hostile bid to acquire U.S. biotechnology company Genzyme Corp.
(GENZ), the chief executive of Genzyme drug-development partner
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ISIS) told Reuters in an interview
published late Tuesday.
Isis CEO Stanley Crooke said discussions of a "contingent value
right" that would give Genzyme shareholders an additional benefit
if certain sales targets for an experimental multiple sclerosis
drug, alemtuzumab, are met will likely seal the deal.
The chief executives of Genzyme and Sanofi have said their
companies are in talks and, on Tuesday, both acknowledged some hope
for an end to a months-long stalemate. Genzyme has repeatedly
rejected an offer of $18.5 billion, or $69 a share, from Sanofi,
arguing that the offer undervalues the company. Sanofi, meanwhile,
has said Genzyme is too optimistic in its sales projection for the
yet-to-be-approved alemtuzumab.
Isis has teamed with Genzyme to develop experimental cholesterol
drug mipomersen, which is based on a novel technology known as
antisense that aims to interfere at the genetic level to prevent
formation of rogue proteins.
"Sanofi is a strong commercial organization ... they look at
mipomersen as an important part of the growth story," Crooke said,
adding that Sanofi brings "added muscle" to developing Genzyme's
product pipeline.
"Based on everything we know today, it (mipomersen) is going to
be a Genzyme, and presumably a Sanofi drug," Crooke said in an
interview at a J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) health care
conference in San Francisco.
Full story at
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70B0FB20110112
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