Another week and another deal with big pharma buying out a development stage oncology company. Given the real synergies to be had through young companies partnering with big pharma to leverage their manufacturing expertise and distribution networks, regulators have allowed most of them to go through and they tend to close quickly. This explains why the spread on this Bristol Myers Squibb deal for Turning Point Therapeutics has a small spread of 1.89% or 5.85% annualized if the deal closes by the end of Q3 2022. Merger activity decreased last week with five new deals announced and two deals completed. One of the five new deals announced was a potential deal in the works.
Turning Point Therapeutics (TPTX)
Headquartered in San Diego, Turning Point Therapeutics is a clinical-stage oncology company that specializes in the discovery and development of targeted cancer therapies designed to address treatment resistance. The company’s programs are tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) designed that target genetic drivers of cancer by helping overcome treatment resistance. Turning Point’s lead candidate Repotrectinib, a TKI is being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial for patients with ROS1+ advanced NSCLC (non-small-cell lung cancer) and NTRK+ (Neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase) advanced solid tumors. Repotrectinib has earned three breakthrough-therapy tags and has demonstrated a longer duration of response compared to existing ROS1 agents in first-line NSCLC during a phase 1/2 trial.
On June 3, 2020, Turning Point Therapeutics entered into an agreement to be acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) for $76 per share in cash, representing a premium of 122.48% to Turning Point’s price on June 2, 2022. According to the press release,
Bristol Myers Squibb expects repotrectinib to be approved in the U.S. in the second half of 2023 and become a new standard of care for patients with ROS1-positive NSCLC in the first-line setting. The company also plans to continue to explore the potential of Turning Point Therapeutics’ promising pipeline of novel compounds.