According to the Wall Street Journal on Friday, the biopharmaceutical giant Merck is considering acquiring seagan, the largest biotechnology company in Seattle.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “the negotiations have been going on for some time, and no agreement has been reached yet.”
A spokesman for higgan declined to comment on the report.
Williamcanestaro, managing director of the Washington research foundation, said that from the perspective of higgan, the acquisition “may have great significance”. He said that the report surprised him.
Canestaro told geekwire: “Merck will provide process, system and mature expertise in bringing drugs to market.”. “In addition, with the current leadership turmoil, the acquisition now seems particularly timely.”
Claysiegall, the long-term CEO who co founded the company 24 years ago, resigned in May after he denied allegations of domestic abuse and was arrested at home. Chief medical officer rogerdancey is acting CEO.
Bothell, wash- SeaGen based company has more than 2800 employees in Seattle, Canada and Europe. Seagan’s share price rose more than 11% at the close of trading on Friday, making the company’s market capitalization more than 30billion US dollars. Merck shares fell slightly.
Related report: seagan CEO and co-founder claysiegel resigned after being arrested for domestic violence
Hagen’s revenue was $1.6 billion last year, and $426.5 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared with $332million in the same period last year. The company has four oncology drugs on the market. Other candidate drugs are concentrated on antibody drug conjugates (ADC), which use antibodies to target cells and release toxins to kill cells.
In 2020, Hagen and Merck signed a cooperation agreement to develop and commercialize the ADC for breast cancer and other solid tumors as a monotherapy and use it jointly with Merck’s keytruda. According to the agreement, Merck made a US $1billion equity investment in Hagen and prepaid US $600million.
According to the Wall Street Journal, other companies are also “paying attention to higgan”.
Shortly before Siegel resigned, the company announced that it would build a 270000 square foot manufacturing plant north of Seattle. The company has become a major biotechnology lessee in the region, and the region lost Amgen many years after acquiring immunex in 2016.
Seagan and Bristol Myers Squibb are the largest biopharmaceutical companies in the Seattle area.
“SeaGen has always been a very important part of our local biotechnology ecosystem,” canestaro said. “For any acquisition, people naturally ask the question: does it look more like an immunex acquisition or a Juno acquisition?”
In 2018, Bristol Myers Squibb acquired Juno therapeutics through the acquisition of celgene and continued to grow in the region, partly due to the acquisition of expertise in cell therapy.
Canestaro added: “it is easier to find biological products and ADC expertise in other parts of the country, so if SeaGen is acquired, it may not be possible to maintain the same local footprint.”. “But coronavirus has fundamentally changed the way higgan operates; many of their employees are now completely remote or hybrid. Now, location may no longer be so important.”