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Here's play by play on the Medco deal that Denner helped usher. Important to note that the rumors of the deal leaked in November when Medco's market cap was in the $4 bn range....the deal was consummated at $9.7 bn. See: https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/novartis-tight-lipped-medco-buyout-rumors
As it has been stated, it's worth repeating: Denner has a lot of connections. Also note you can leak rumors of the deal to help get the price up.
Also see:
In a play-by-play of the $9.7B MedCo buyout, Novartis admits it overpaid while offering a huge windfall to execs
Jason Mast
Editor
A month into his tenure at The Medicines Company, new CEO Mark Timney reached out to then-Novartis pharma chief Paul Hudson: Any interest in a partnership?
No, Hudson told him. Not now, at least.
Paul Hudson
Ten months later, Hudson had left to run Sanofi and Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan was paying $9.7 billion for the one-drug biotech – the largest in the string of acquisitions Narasimhan has signed since his 2017 appointment.
The deal was the product of an activist investor and his controversial partner working through nearly a year of cat-and-mouse negotiations to secure a deal with Big Pharma’s most expansionist executive. It represented a huge bet in a cardiovascular field that already saw two major busts in recent years and brought massive returns for two of the industry’s most eye-raising names.
Also among the revelations in the SEC filing: Novartis paid more for the drug than their models ultimately determined it was worth.
Clive Meanwell
Alex Denner, the high-profile activist investor and Carl Icahn protege, set the buyout in motion when he took control of the board in March, 2018. Denner had helped orchestrate buyouts of Bioverativ and Ariad, and he immediately restructured the board, bringing in 3 directors with close ties and cutting the overall membership from 12 to 7. By June 10, CEO Clive Meanwell had reached out to the first potential global partner about a deal.
At the time, MedCo’s future was still tenuous. That January they had finished selling off their entire infectious disease unit, slashing 85% of its workforce – 350 jobs – in the process. They were doubling down on inclisiran, the RNA-based cholesterol therapy, as mid-stage data began to roll in. The drug had shown it could lower LDL, but it was still early; Phase III data wouldn’t be out for over a year.
The unnamed pharma giant entered a confidentiality agreement with MedCo and for two to three months conducted due diligence before telling the NJ–based biotech they were no longer interested.
That was September. On December 11, Meanwell was out as CEO. Mark Timney, the ex-Purdue Pharma chief named in dozens of lawsuits for allegedly helping mislead the public about the addictiveness of Oxycontin, was in. He didn’t wait two full weeks before reaching out to his first potential Big Pharma partner – a company other than Novartis or the group Meanwell negotiated with. Soon, though, a cat-and-mouse game was underway between The Medicines Company and Novartis.
The discussions with Paul Hudson came in January. Hudson said no, almost passing up Novartis’s one shot as shortly thereafter, “Party B” presented an offer. An offer, though, that the board scorned.
Alette Verbeek
In May, positive data came back on a Phase II extension trial and Timney emailed the results to Hudson, along with at least one other company. But when Novartis’ head of business development responded to the email and tried to introduce Timney to their cardiovascular business chief, Alette Verbeek, Timney didn’t respond.
Instead in June, Timney began negotiations with the other email recipient, “Party C.” Through August, he negotiated with A, B, C and others before Verbeek wrote to him on August 7th. They started talks.
Soon the first round of positive Phase III results came out on August 26, sending the stock up $8 and setting the stage for a five-way frenzy in Paris as the European Society of Cardiology’s ESC Congress loomed on the 31st. That became seven-way as two more entered the fray.
Peter Wijngaard
Only one would drop out before Narismahan’s offer came in on September 16: The whole company for $74.03 a share. While MedCo mulled a response, positive data from two new trials pushed the stock price over $50. Timney called back on October 7: We’re worth more and there are other offers.
That day, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan representatives began contacting 12 different pharmaceutical companies to gauge interest, including every company they had previously spoken to besides Party A. Two of the new ones bit, along with three old ones.
On November 5, Novartis offered $85 per share. Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan told MedCo they could get $90 – and Novartis agreed, setting up an announcement on November 18 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.
Stephen Rodin
But before that was finalized they had questions for Alnylam, the RNAi company from which MedCo originally licensed inclisiran in 2013 for $25 million upfront. Reviewing new documents, Novartis determined the drug wasn’t worth $90 per share. In fact, they said it wasn’t worth the $85 they had offered. But they told MedCo they would honor that initial offer. On November 22, MedCo’s board unanimously voted to approve the deal.
Alex Denner is cashing in on $368 million worth of stock from the deal. That’s roughly what he earned from the Ariad and Bioverativ sales combined. The rest of the payouts:
CEO Mark Timney – $67 million
Chief innovation officer/Ex-CEO Clive Meanwell — $140 million
Chief development officer Peter Wijngaard — $30 million
Executive vice president Stephen Rodin — $21 million
Can you send the article to Denner? To make sure he sees it / draws the connection.
I am saying if you know folks at Sarissa perhaps you can let them know retail shareholders are behind them.
You reached out to Denner / Sarissa?
Do you know any other activists?
I agree. I think all shareholders need to be focused on reaching out to other activists. Need to let other activists know about Amarin.
I agree the challenge is Karim and the Board may want to go at it alone. That’s the issue. The current Board is entrenched.
That CNBC article was great because it called out how absurd GIA is. I doubt that was a random piece.
Better at directing your energies to activists:
Carl Icahn
cicahn@ielp.com
https://www.ielp.com/
Carl Icahn has a new documentary on HBO called the relentless billionaire.
In my opinion all efforts should be focused on contacting activists.
At this point, contacting activists should be the highest priority.
Management works for the shareholders.
As the CNBC article pointed out, GIA is a fool’s errand. Time to wake up the activists to protect our interests.
The more the merrier.
I hope Denner realizes or someone can get word to him that our current Chariman's firm, Sofinnova, sold all of its shares in AMRN.
You cannot make this stuff up. And Lars is still on the Board.
LBL disappeared on us.......
whey would BB continue exiting knowing Denner is accumulating to stir up change?
Baker Bros--anyone care to guess why they reduced ownership by 686,227 shares?
I guess if they wanted out they certainly could have sold more?
What's with the 686,227 reduction?
Would be great if we could hold $8. Smh. Cannot wait till next catalyst to trade the news.
Do you thinl Denner knows about this study? Maybe someone could email it to him.
Great job Marjac!
It is what it is.
At least we have GSK v. Teva.
Cannot control everything in life.
It could be worse if GSK v. Teva went the other way.
GSK v. Teva en banc denial is huge news for Amarin.
At a minimum, it will serve to keep generics at bay as they now have to think long and hard about whether it's worth it to get "greedy" and encroach on the CV indication. How much of the market do they want to continue taking......
Hikma, recall from the hearing on the motion to dismiss in Delaware, was implying they thought the case would be reheard on en banc. That is no longer the case.
The order came out this morning. That link has not been updated as of yet.
En banc hearing denied.
Four rulings over 28 pages re GSK/Teva en banc denial:
— Perry Cooper (@PerryECooper) February 11, 2022
1. Moore concurrence (joined by Newman, O'Malley, Taranto, Chen, Stoll)
2. Prost dissent (joined by Dyk, Reyna)
3. Dyk dissent
4. Reyna dissent
Lourie and Cunningham didn't participate.
don't speak so soon. Amarin is amending its complaint with additional info against Hikma. Moreover, there is nothing to suggest a suit cannot be brought now at a later time if more evidence surfaces in light of GSK v. Teva. This should keep generics at bay.
This is huge news.
Hikma was anticipating this case being reheard....by that I mean GSK v. Teva. Our Judge in the Amarin case will be aware of this en banc denial this morning.
Great news for Amarin.
Great news. GSK v. Teva petition for en banc hearing was denied this morning.
GSK v. Teva stands.
What's the next catalyst here.....
Enrollment....?
Haywood's 13G was just filed showing him owning 485,000 shares (including warrants). I think this is down from his previous ownership.
I guess he sold some.
No wonder why senior management has not been interested in putting out any bullish statements or forecasts.
They wanted options priced low as possible.
So glad Denner is involved here.
Yes but without any PR....our share price may not move much going forward.
This stock can never hold its gains. Literally sell the next press release and buy back in a few days later.
Rinse and repeat.....
Are you prepared if they ask why didn't management / the company take this up?
LBL--what's the latest you're hearing/your gut is telling you?
Flyfishing--why were we up today?
Markets got killed yet Amarin hung in there....
What do the charts suggest is the explanation?
Best wishes marjac!
Do not let the lawyers for the generics get you flustered or the judges for that matter.
I truly hope you have a great panel.
FlyfishingStocks--what is going on today? Market is down including XBI....
Why are we up? Appreciate any insight.....?
say more please....what do you think this signals?
But when does the stock price re-rate (go up)?
Thus far the market seems to yawn at snpx or rather does not care relative to other Alz plays.
Interesting. Do you think the company will PR that if the trial results end up getting pushed back to next year?
Volume--with the larger volume over the last several days I'm still wondering why we have not risen more?
I wonder which big fund is selling as these shares are being gobbled up.
Any thoughts?
Surprised we are not up more.....
Is this all the pop the peer review will generate?
Do you think the Baker Bros are unloading?
The great thing about the CNBC article this weekend is that it completely calls out the Board and implies if they dare try to GIA, they are imbeciles.
That was not a random article. Everything from here on out is well coordinated.
The writer laid out the 3 options.
I love that Denner is involved because he will also keep the BPs honest. The best way to get a higher value is more bidders. Novartis has a lot of cash so Pfizer cannot assume they are the only ones hovering around the hoop. I am sure he already has a BP in mind.
Are you saying there's a chance.......?
JL great to have you back. I missed your posts and sage advice and stories.