By Colin Kellaher
Zymeworks has agreed to buy biopharmaceutical company Theravance Biopharma for about $929 million in a deal that would add Yupelri, a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, to the biotechnology company's portfolio.
Zymeworks on Monday said it would pay $17 a share in cash for Theravance, a 3.6% discount to Friday's closing price of $17.63 for the South San Francisco, Calif., company but 22% above its closing price of $13.96 on March 3, after the company reported the failure of a Phase 3 study of its ampreloxetine drug candidate.
The failure had prompted Theravance to accelerates a review of strategic alternatives and launch a restructuring that included the dismissal of about half of its workforce.
Theravance said the Zymeworks transaction, slated to close in the second half of the year, marks the culmination of the strategic-review process.
The company said that in addition to the cash consideration, its shareholders would receive contingent value rights entitling them to 80% of net proceeds from any future license, divestiture or other monetization of ampreloxetine within the next 10 years.
Zymeworks, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, said it would retain roughly $2.5 billion of Irish tax attributes accumulated by Theravance for potential future use.
Write to Colin Kellaher at [email protected]