Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Hercules Development Group / Astralis LLC

2001 · Acquisition/Merger · $111M · Complete

WRONG BY 41 POINTS

A shell-company reverse merger that gave Astralis public-market cash — then its only asset, Psoraxine, missed its Phase II endpoint in 2005 and the stock collapsed 48%, with no recovery found in the public record.

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The coverage arc

Nov 02, 2001 BioWorld Neutral

Astralis won shareholder approval for a reverse takeover by real-estate shell Hercules Development Group valued at ~$110M in stock; lead product Psoraxine was…

Dec 14, 2001 Astralis Ltd. Form 8-K (SkyePharma investment) Bullish

Weeks after the Exchange, SkyePharma agreed to make a total equity investment in the Company of up to $20 million and to provide all development,…

Mar 15, 2005 BioWorld Bearish

Astralis's Psoraxine missed its Phase II primary efficacy endpoint, failing to show statistically significant PASI improvement vs placebo; the stock fell…

Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.

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Below $250M; reverse-merger structure into psoriasis biotech. Marginal inclusion.

Did it work? Outcome assessment

A shell-company reverse merger that gave Astralis public-market cash — then its only asset, Psoraxine, missed its Phase II endpoint in 2005 and the stock collapsed 48%, with no recovery found in the public record.

Strategic verdict
Failed to Achieve

Key facts

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Hercules Development Group / Astralis LLC (this deal)2001$111M9
Abbott Laboratories / Knoll Pharmaceutical Company (BASF Pharma)2001$6.9B100
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated / Aurora Biosciences Corporation2001$592M95
Amgen Inc. / Immunex Corporation2001$16.0B91
Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB / Biovitrum2001$493M84
Barr Laboratories Inc. / Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc.2001$589M82
Cephalon Inc. / Group Lafon (France)2001$450M80

Compare all 7 side-by-side →

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