Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Bayer to acquire AskBio for USD 2 billion upfront and up to USD 2 billion in success-based milestone payments; close expected Q4 2020. Platform: Pro10 cell…
Bayer is paying $2 billion upfront and up to $2 billion in milestones for AskBio, the AAV gene therapy specialist whose Viralgen subsidiary is one of the few…
Bayer CDMO Viralgen opens doors for AAV manufacturing with proprietary Pro10 platform acquired through AskBio deal for gene therapy production
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Bayer acquired control of Viralgen — a San Sebastian, Spain AAV viral-vector contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) — through its October 26, 2020 acquisition of Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio), announced for USD 2.0 billion upfront plus up to USD 2.0 billion in success-based milestone payments (close expected Q4 2020). AskBio, Viralgen's co-founder, owned 50% of Viralgen (established 2017 as a joint venture with Columbus Venture Partners); in the same operation Bayer committed to acquire the remaining 50% from Columbus Venture Partners within 30 days of the AskBio closing, making Viralgen a wholly owned Bayer CDMO. The transaction gave Bayer AskBio's and Viralgen's proprietary Pro10 AAV manufacturing process, an extensive AAV capsid/promoter library, and a clinical-stage gene-therapy pipeline (Pompe disease, Parkinson's disease, congestive heart failure). The Viralgen-specific purchase price was not separately disclosed. Post-close the asset has scaled materially: Viralgen has received cGMP certification, is licensed for commercial rAAV manufacturing up to 2,000 liters, operates more than 340,000 sq ft across two EMA-GMP facilities, and is pursuing a multi-phase (>EUR 120 million) capacity expansion plus planned US facilities.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bayer AG / Viralgen (this deal) | 2020 | — | 48 |
| Bayer AG / Schering AG | 2006 | $21.5B | 79 |
| Bayer AG / BlueRock Therapeutics | 2002 | $600M | 79 |
| Bayer AG / Merck & Co., Inc. | 2014 | $14.2B | 71 |
| Bayer AG / Schering AG (residual squeeze-out) | 2007 | $985M | 69 |
| Bayer AG / Arvinas, Inc. | 2019 | $1.0B | 59 |
| Bayer AG / Merck & Co. Inc. | 2014 | $14.2B | 56 |
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More: 2020 deals · Bayer AG deals · Gene Therapy deals