 |
 |
| Back Issues |
|
|
|
|
ACS Members can sign up to receive C&EN e-mail newsletter.  |
|
|
 Join ACS |
|
|||||||||
|
ACQUISITIONS
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay about $2.4 billion in cash to acquire Scios, an unprofitable biotechnology firm with one product on the market. The deal--J&J's fifth biotech purchase in as many years--fits a company pattern of acquisitions that deliver a needed boost to both its drug sales and its development pipeline.
Scios launched its first product, the recombinant protein Natrecor, in 2001. The two companies anticipate that J&J's sales and R&D muscle will expand the market for the drug many times beyond an anticipated $180 million in 2003. In addition, J&J considers Scios' program to develop small-molecule inhibitors of p-38 kinases to treat inflammation to be even more promising. However, Natrecor's prospects may be challenged if its safety is questioned in a soon-to-be-released interpretation of clinical data by a physician who, Scios says, was not involved in the Natrecor trials. Poon says J&J has "studied the issue very closely" and "concurs with FDA," which recommended approval without any cautions related to mortality. Keeping with J&J's decentralized business model, Scios will retain its name, identity, and management. The 22-year-old firm is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., and employs about 500 people; the acquisition is not expected to result in cutbacks. Scios shareholders, who must still approve the deal, are to receive $45 per share. The day before the deal was announced, the company's stock price jumped nearly 22%, to more than $42 per share, on merger rumors. |
|||||||||
|
Chemical & Engineering News |
|||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
