Sanofi to purchase US biopharma group Blueprint for as much as $9.5 billion

By Dominique Patton and Geert De Clercq

PARIS (Reuters) -France’s Sanofi has agreed to purchase U.S.-based Blueprint Medicines Company for as much as $9.5 billion to spice up its place in uncommon immunology ailments, within the largest deal struck by a European healthcare firm to this point this yr, in accordance with LSEG knowledge.

Blueprint is a specialist in therapies for systemic mastocytosis, a uncommon blood dysfunction.

The 2 corporations mentioned on Monday that Sanofi would initially pay $129.00 per share in money, or round $9.1 billion. Blueprint shares jumped 27% to $128.74 in premarket commerce. Sanofi inventory was down about 1%.

Sanofi has ramped up analysis and improvement spending in recent times, prompting the corporate to desert its long-term revenue margin targets two years in the past, because it seeks to construct on the success of its blockbuster drug Dupixent for eczema and different situations.

Nevertheless, it suffered a setback final week after an experimental drug for sufferers with a lung situation generally known as “smoker’s lung” failed a late-stage trial.

The Blueprint acquisition “represents a strategic step ahead in our uncommon and immunology portfolios. It enhances our pipeline and accelerates our transformation into the world’s main immunology firm,” mentioned Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson.

The deal would add to Sanofi’s portfolio the uncommon immunology illness drug Ayvakit, often known as Ayvakyt, authorised within the U.S. and the EU, and a promising superior and early-stage immunology pipeline.

Ayvakit is the one authorised medication for superior and indolent systemic mastocytosis, a uncommon blood dysfunction that happens when the physique makes irregular mast cells – a kind of white blood cell. It triggers a steady allergic response.

The acquisition would additionally convey elenestinib, a next-generation medication for systemic mastocytosis, in addition to BLU-808, a extremely selective and potent oral wild-type KIT inhibitor that has the potential to deal with a broad vary of ailments in immunology.

The deal makes “strategic and monetary sense”, mentioned JP Morgan analysts in a notice, noting that Blueprint expects Ayvakit to achieve annual gross sales of round $2 billion by fiscal yr 2030.

“We see the transaction as a superb match for Sanofi at a smart valuation, which buyers ought to see as a constructive with time,” they added.

It’s the newest in a collection of offers by Sanofi. Final month, it introduced the $470 million buy of Vigil Neuroscience and in January 2024 it struck a $2.2 billion deal for U.S biotech agency Inhibrx.

Hudson mentioned the deal complemented Sanofi’s current acquisitions of different early-stage medicines and added that it nonetheless retained a large capability for additional offers.