Emer­gent inks $225M cash small­pox deal as Chimerix im­plodes on re­org, FDA trou­ble

Emer­gent BioSo­lu­tions has made a name for it­self ever since the late 1990s by mak­ing drugs that are need­ed by the US gov­ern­ment. Mon­day, it took that a step fur­ther, as it en­tered a deal with Chimerix to ac­quire the ex­clu­sive rights to Tem­bexa, a small­pox treat­ment for all ages that was ap­proved in 2021, with a $225 mil­lion cash pay­ment.

The pick­up comes just as Chimerix re­leased its Q1 earn­ings re­port, in which CEO Mike Sher­man said that the com­pa­ny is drop­ping in­vest­ment in an­oth­er pro­gram while cir­cling its wag­ons around the lead drug af­ter hopes for an ac­cel­er­at­ed ap­proval were dam­aged by reg­u­la­tors. And that will set up a piv­otal tri­al in ad­vance of any ex­pect­ed ap­proval — news that sent in­vestors run­ning for the hills as its stock $CM­RX plunged 60%.

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