Amylin reportedly rejects Bristol-Myers $3.5-bn bid
30 Mar 2012
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc, maker of the diabetes drug Bydureon, had last month rejected a $3.5 billion unsolicited takeover offer from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Bloomberg yesterday reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.
Bristol-Myers had offered to pay $22 a share, which was rejected by Amylin's board last month, the news agency said. The offer represents a premium of 43 per cent to Amylin's closing stock price yesterday of $15.39.
New York-based Bristol-Myers has not approached Amylin after its offer was turned down, and Amylin is currently focusing on finding a partner to market its drugs outside the US and is speaking with several drug companies, the paper added.
Amylin, based in San Diego, California, received the US Food & Drug Administration approval in January for Bydureon, a once-weekly formulation of its earlier Type 2 diabetes drug Byetta, a longer-lasting version of Amylin's existing drug Byetta, which is injected twice a day.
Bydureon is expected to have annual sales of $1 billion, and its main competitor is Novo Nordisk's Victoza, which is injected once a day and had sales of 1.1 billion in 2011.
Amylin also sells insulin drug Symlin for Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.