Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Gilead Sciences Inc. / Myogen Inc.

2006 · Acquisition/Merger · $2.5B · Complete

A $2.5B all-cash acquisition that gave Gilead its entry into cardiovascular/pulmonary medicine via ambrisentan (Letairis) for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Letairis won FDA approval, though peak annual sales of roughly $600M left the returns well short of justifying the price tag.

CALLED IT — OFF BY 1

PAH diversification play delivered modest returns well below $2.5B acquisition price

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The coverage arc

Sep 12, 2004 Wikipedia Neutral

Gilead acquired Myogen for $2.5B for pulmonary disease drugs.

Nov 09, 2006 Neutral

Gilead Sciences to acquire Myogen for $2.5 billion completing the two-step acquisition through cash tender offer followed by cash merger in November 2006.

Mar 25, 2014 Neutral

Gilead buys Myogen for $2.5 billion adding late-stage pulmonary arterial hypertension drug ambrisentan with orphan drug status in US and Europe.

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Gilead Sciences acquired Myogen Inc. for $52.50 per share (~$2.5 billion) in an all-cash tender offer, gaining ambrisentan (Letairis), an oral endothelin receptor antagonist for pulmonary arterial hypertension, and darusentan for resistant hypertension. The deal marked Gilead's entry into cardiovascular/pulmonary medicine.

Key facts

Disease & market context

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

30K US cases/yr · $2.0B Global PAH Market (2006)

Disease Overview

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare, progressive condition with estimated US prevalence of 15-50 per million. Myogen was developing ambrisentan (later Letairis), a selective endothelin receptor antagonist, and darusentan for resistant hypertension. PAH treatment was an emerging specialty market in 2006.

Deal Context

Gilead's $2.5B acquisition of Myogen expanded its portfolio beyond HIV into cardiovascular disease. Ambrisentan was approved as Letairis in 2007 and grew to $1.6B peak sales. Darusentan failed in Phase III trials. The deal was part of Gilead's diversification strategy that also included the Corus Pharma acquisition for respiratory.

Deal timeline

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Gilead Sciences Inc. / Myogen Inc. (this deal)2006$2.5B62
Gilead Sciences Inc. / Pharmasset Inc.2011$11.2B98
Gilead Sciences Inc. / Triangle Pharmaceuticals Inc.2002$464M96
Gilead Sciences Inc. / CymaBay Therapeutics2024$4.4B76
Gilead Sciences Inc. / Nurix Therapeutics Inc.2019$2.3B69
Gilead Sciences Inc. / Immunomedics Inc.2020$21.0B68
Gilead Sciences Inc. / Kite Pharma, Inc.2017$11.9B67

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