Bayer’s $240M upfront for BlueRock acquisition puts them in the high rollers club for preclinical biotech buyouts
Bayer’s deal today marks a major, top-10 acquisition for a preclinical biotech, but it’s also significantly different than the average big-buck pacts in the field, which typically revolve around a single drug or target. Bayer wants to build a whole new pipeline covering a variety of disease fields.
The pharma giant’s $600 million gamble — $240 million in cash upfront with $360 million for development goals — ranks as the 6th largest money-down deal on the top 20 list of preclinical M&A deals, as gathered by DealForma’s Chris Dokomajilar.
The list is topped by Bristol-Myers Squibb’s misguided $800 million upfront for Flexus’ IDO program — later scrapped. Tekmira — now Arbutus — followed with a motherlode of dollars for OnCore’s hep B effort. That stands out as an unusual play for a biotech. The top 15 players dominate the preclinical M&A game when it comes to large upfronts.
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