Gilead Sciences to Acquire Myogen for $2.5 Billion

Foster City, CA (Oct. 2)-Gilead Sciences, Inc. (www.gilead.com) has agreed to acquire the biopharmaceutical company Myogen, Inc.  (Denver, CO, www.myogen.com) for $2.5 billion.

Myogen's lead product candidate is ambrisentan, an oral endothelin receptor antagonist for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension. Myogen expects to file a new drug application with the US Food and Drug Administration for the drug as early as the fourth quarter of 2006. GlaxoSmithKline PLC (London, www.gsk.com) holds rights to the product outside the United States. Myogen's other key product candidate is darusentan, an endothelin receptor antagonist for treating resistant hypertension.

Mygoen also markets and distributes “Flolan” (epoprostenol sodium) in the United States through an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline and has a research pact with Novartis (Basel, Switzerland, www.novartis.com) focusing on disease-modifying drugs for chronic heart failure and related cardiovascular disorders.

Myogen is the second acquisition for Gilead in 2006. In August, it completed its $365-million acquisition of Corus Pharma (Seattle, WA). Corus Pharma's lead product candidate is the inhaled antibiotic aztreonam lysine. 

Gilead is acquiring Myogen in a two-step transaction: a cash tender offer for all outstanding Myogen common stock at $52.50 per share, followed by a cash merger in which Gilead would acquire any remaining outstanding Myogen common stock at $52.50 per share. Upon completion of the two-step merger, Myogen will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Gilead. The deal is expected to close before the end of 2006.