Sanofi bid first, but Biogen won out in fight to acquire Reata — report 

Chris Viehbacher

Sanofi was the mystery “Party A” that engaged in a bidding war with Biogen for the $7.3 billion buyout of Reata Pharmaceuticals, according to a Bloomberg News report, citing unnamed sources.

The French Big Pharma bid for Reata first, but its former CEO Chris Viehbacher and his business development team at Biogen prevailed in the deal talks and won by a slim 50 cent-per-share margin. A Sanofi spokesperson declined to comment.

The acquisition marks a big move for Biogen and its first in four years, after its 2019 acquisition of gene therapy biotech Nightstar ended in clinical failure.

With a refreshed board, a new CEO, a recently appointed head of business development and billions at the ready, Biogen pounced on the opportunity to buy a Texas rare disease drugmaker riding on quick commercial success following a February FDA approval.

Chatter about the identity of “Party A” emerged earlier in the week when analysts spotted a typo in a Reata regulatory filing, indicating that Merck or the European Merck KGaA might have been the bidder. A Merck spokesperson said it was not them, and a Merck KGaA spokesperson declined to comment.

Sanofi also lost out on the Horizon deal.

“We’re open-minded about what comes next,” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson told Endpoints News in May, prior to the Reata bidding war. “We’ve always guided that we’re in the $2 billion to $5 billion bracket. We reserve the right to be opportunistic, but it would take something special.”

gene therapy
pharmaceuticals
biotech
pharma
fda
buy