
Inside Astellas' $3B Audentes gene therapy acquisition: coded messages, a bidding war and $77M for the CEO
Word of Astellas’ first multibillion-dollar offer was passed in coded language at a palm tree-lined Park Hyatt in San Diego, where one of gene therapy’s biggest summits was about to begin.
Claudia Mitchell had been to the annual Meeting on the Mesa before. Her presentation there as CEO of Universal Cells in September 2017 had helped secure a collaboration with and ultimately a $100 million buyout from Astellas within 5 months. Now, she worked for the Japanase pharma giant and she had word for Matthew Patterson, CEO of Audentes and conference chairman: A business proposal was coming; she didn’t specify what.
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