Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

GlaxoSmithKline plc / Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

2008 · Acquisition/Merger · $720M · Complete

CALLED IT — OFF BY 16

GSK paid $720M for an unvalidated sirtuin/resveratrol platform that was clinically abandoned within 2 years and organizationally dissolved within 5 — a textbook case of buying hype without independent scientific validation.

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The coverage arc

Apr 28, 2008 Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) Bullish

GSK paid $22.50/share — a roughly 82% premium — for Sirtris's sirtuin platform, with lead SRT501 in Phase 2a in Type 2 diabetes plus Phase 1b work in MELAS and…

Jan 01, 2024 Wikipedia Bearish

Independent Pfizer and Amgen studies in 2009–2010 showed resveratrol did not directly activate SIRT1 — the apparent effects were experimental artifacts from…

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$22.50/share cash; sirtuin platform, SRT501

Did it work? Outcome assessment

GSK paid $720M for an unvalidated sirtuin/resveratrol platform that was clinically abandoned within 2 years and organizationally dissolved within 5 — a textbook case of buying hype without independent scientific validation.

Strategic verdict
Failed to Achieve

Key facts

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
GlaxoSmithKline plc / Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (this deal)2008$720M9
GlaxoSmithKline plc / Theravance, Inc.2012$213M82
GlaxoSmithKline plc / Tesaro Inc.2018$5.1B79
GlaxoSmithKline plc / Pfizer Inc. (Consumer Healthcare Division)2018$12.7B76
GlaxoSmithKline plc / Novartis Consumer Healthcare JV2018$13.0B74
GlaxoSmithKline plc / ID Biomedical Corporation2005$1.4B64
GlaxoSmithKline plc / Vir Biotechnology Inc.2020$595M51

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