$AGIO
Agios to sell cancer business to Servier for potentially $2 bln
Mon, December 21, 2020, 1:00 PM GMT+1
Dec 21 (Reuters) - Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday it had agreed to sell its cancer business to privately held company Servier for potentially $2 billion, as the drugmaker looks to raise money to focus on its genetic disorder disease portfolio.
The deal includes $1.8 billion in upfront cash and $200 million in a potential future milestone payment for its experimental brain cancer treatment, vorasidenib, as well as 5% royalties on U.S. net sales of tibsovo, treatment for acute myeloid leukemia.
The company, which is currently developing its lead candidate, mitapivat, to treat blood disorder, expects to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2021.
Goldman Sachs & Co LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co LLC are serving as financial advisers to Agios.
The company expects to apply for U.S. and EU regulatory approvals for mitapivat in 2021, with a potential 2022 commercial launch.
Servier is a global pharmaceuticals group headquartered in France. It focuses on cardiovascular, immune inflammatory, and neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and diabetes, as well as generic drugs. (Reporting by Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)