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news.Gilead Sciences has signed an agreement to acquire Myogen for around $2.5 billion to expand upon the company's recent interest in pulmonary disease treatments.
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The transaction has been structured as a two-step acquisition comprised of a cash tender offer for all of the outstanding Myogen common stock at $52.50 per share, followed by a cash merger. Upon completion, Myogen will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilead.
The agreement expands on Gilead's recent focus on pulmonology after it bought Corus Pharma. This deal provided Gilead with three pulmonary products, including two inhaled antibiotics for the treatment of lung infections.
Gilead will acquire Myogen's lead product candidate, ambrisentan, for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Gilead and Myogen believe data from two completed pivotal phase III studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of the product as a potential treatment for PAH would support a new drug application.
Myogen currently expects to file a new drug application with the FDA as early as the fourth quarter of 2006. Ambrisentan has been granted orphan drug status for the potential treatment of PAH in both the US and Europe. GlaxoSmithKline holds rights to the product outside the US.
Myogen's other product in late-stage clinical development is darusentan for the treatment of patients with resistant hypertension.