Alkermes plc (ALKS) entered a merger agreement on October 22, 2025, to acquire Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc (AVDL) in a deal valued at $2.1 billion.
Alkermes will acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of Avadel for $18.5 per share, payable in cash at closing, representing a premium of 3.53% from the stock’s last closing.
In addition, Alkermes will provide Avadel shareholders with a non-transferable contingent value right (CVR) entitling holders to a potential additional cash payment of $1.5 per share, contingent upon final FDA approval of LUMRYZ for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia in adults by the end of 2028.
Avadel is a Dublin-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for sleep disorders, including its FDA-approved product LUMRYZ, the first once-at-bedtime oxybate treatment for narcolepsy.
Alkermes is a Dublin-based biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for neurological and psychiatric disorders, with a portfolio addressing conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, opioid and alcohol dependence, and a pipeline targeting sleep and neurological diseases.
In February, activist investor ASL Strategic Value Fund had urged Avadel Pharmaceuticals’ Board to retain an investment bank to explore all possible alternatives, including the outright sale of the company. The stock was trading at $8 when the activist pushed it for sale.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.
The deal will add Avadel’s FDA-approved product, LUMRYZ (sodium oxybate), indicated for the treatment of cataplexy or excessive daytime sleepiness in patients aged seven and older with narcolepsy, to Alkermes’ commercial portfolio. This accelerates Alkermes’ entry into the sleep medicine market and enhances its late-stage development pipeline focused on central disorders of hypersomnolence.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs served as financial advisors, and Goodwin Procter and Arthur Cox provided legal advice to Avadel Pharmaceuticals. J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisor to Alkermes, while Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, McCann FitzGerald, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton served as its legal advisors.
Alkermes is paying 8.09 times sales for Avadel.
For more in-depth information regarding this merger transaction, please visit the Deal Metrics page here:
Deal Metrics for the acquisition of Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc (AVDL) by Alkermes plc (ALKS)
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Editor’s Note: Baranjot Kaur contributed to this article