Sanofi to buy immunology biotech Blueprint for US$9.1 billion
Sanofi will pay US$129 per share in cash for the US biotech, it said in a statement. That represents a 27 per cent premium to Blueprint's closing price on May 30.
The pharmaceutical firm has touted its ambition to become an immunology powerhouse, and earlier this year it clinched a pact to buy a promising antibody drug for up to US$1.9 billion. Blueprint brings a pipeline of experimental immunology treatments and one medicine already on sale for a rare condition known as systemic mastocytosis.
'Sanofi still retains a sizable capacity for further acquisitions,' said chief executive officer Paul Hudson.
Pharmaceutical companies have shied away from larger deals in recent years, with the biggest so far in 2025 being Johnson & Johnson's acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies for US$14.6 billion.
The transaction announced on Monday (Jun 2) is the largest for Sanofi since it bought Bioverativ, a spinoff from biotech giant Biogen, in 2018. It includes a contingent value right linked to the performance of one of Blueprint's experimental drugs.
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'We see synergies with Sanofi's existing rare-disease footprint, but expect investors to question valuation and confidence in the remaining internal R&D offering,' Sarita Kapila and analyst colleagues at Morgan Stanley wrote in a note.
Sanofi shares fell 1 per cent in Paris trading. The stock has dropped about 7.5 per cent so far this year, under-performing European rivals such as GSK and Novartis AG. Blueprint surged 26 per cent in trading before US exchanges opened.
Hudson shocked investors in 2023 when his research and development spending plan triggered a profit warning and led to a stock sell-off that wiped out around US$25 billion in market value. Since then, Sanofi has successfully separated its consumer-health division and has worked to prove that the drugmaker's research unit, led by former venture capital hotshot Houman Ashrafian, can continue to produce blockbusters.
Potential blockbuster
Blueprint markets the drug Ayvakit in the US – known as Ayvakyt in Europe – for systemic mastocytosis, where an abnormal buildup of immune cells can cause symptoms such as hives, abdominal pain, bone pain and anemia. The treatment is projected to bring in US$2 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
The company has a medicine called elenestinib in development for the same ailment and another in mid-stage trials called BLU-808 for mast-cell disorders, including chronic urticaria where patients have regular itchy and sometimes painful hives. Blueprint also has an 'established presence' among specialist doctors, according to Sanofi.
The acquisition marks the culmination of a successful pivot by Blueprint, which was founded in 2008 and listed in 2015 with a focus on cancer therapies. After the dissolution of a partnership with Roche Holding forced it to withdraw an approved cancer drug from certain markets, it dialled back its efforts in cancer and doubled down on immunology.
Blueprint shareholders will also receive one non-tradeable contingent value right, which will pay the holder US$2 and US$4 per right for future development and regulatory milestones for BLU-808, which has the potential to treat a range of diseases.
The transaction implies an equity value of US$9.1 billion. Including the potential CVR payments, the deal amounts to about US$9.5 billion on a fully diluted basis.
Sanofi expects to complete the acquisition in the third quarter and said the deal will not have a significant impact on its financial guidance for 2025. BLOOMBERG
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