Bristol Myers Squibb Completes Third Largest Acquisition of 2022

On August 17, Bristol Myers Squibb announced its acquisition of Turning Point Therapeutics closed successfully. Bristol Myers Squibb purchased each share of Turning Point at $76, resulting in a total payment of $4.1 billion. Turning Point’s acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb marks what is currently the third largest acquisition in the biotech industry in 2022.

Related Article: GSK’s Second Billion Dollar Acquisition Outprices their First of 2022

$4.1 billion for a Portfolio of Investigational Medicines

Turning Point Therapeutics is a clinical-stage precision oncology company possessing a pipeline of investigational medicines. These medicines address common mutations in cancers that current treatments fail to address.

Turning Point’s flagship asset is repotrectinib, a kinase inhibitor. Repotrectinib prevents oncogenic drivers, mutations responsible for both the initiation and maintenance of cancer, in non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors.

The Phase 1/2 TRIDENT-1 clinical trial observed repotrectinib’s long response time with oncogenic drivers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted three Breakthrough Therapy Designations for repotrectinib.

Due to the promising results of repotrectinib’s trials and the other treatments possessed by Turning Point, Bristol Myers Squibb sought to acquire the company and their portfolio. 

The Third Largest Acquisition of 2022 So Far

Initially announced in June, Bristol Myers Squibb and Turning Point’s board of directors unanimously approved the acquisition. 

As of August 15, the deal closed, with Bristol Myers Squibb paying $4.1 billion. As a result, public trading of Turning Point shares on the NASDAQ Global Select Market ceased with the deal’s completion. Now, Bristol Myers Squibb wholly owns the oncology company. The value of each of the 41,896,678 shares of Turning Point was $55.

On the completion of the acquisition, Elizabeth Mily, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Business Development at Bristol Myers Squibb, said, “Turning Point has distinguished itself in the field of precision oncology, and this acquisition will further strengthen our leading oncology franchise.”

This transaction marks yet another massive purchase within the biotech industry in 2022. Just the day before Bristol Myers Squibb’s announcement, GSK announced their own completed acquisition of Affinivax. The value of that transaction was $2.1 billion, with GSK paying $55 per outstanding share of the company. 

In the future, Bristol Myers Squibb expects the FDA to approve repotrectinib in the second half of 2023. The company hopes the treatment becomes a new standard of care for cancer patients affected by oncogenic drivers.

Author

Max Heirich