Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Mallinckrodt paid $1.33B for Therakos in 2015 and ran it as a stable niche for nearly a decade, but sold it for $925M in 2024 amid two Chapter 11 bankruptcies—a real loss on the original price, driven by opioid litigation debt rather than the asset's own performance.
Mallinckrodt expands its hospital growth platform with the $1.325B Therakos acquisition, broadening exposure to immunotherapy and recurring photopheresis…
The acquisition closes, adding Therakos's global photopheresis franchise and expected $185-195M in FY2015 sales to Mallinckrodt's specialty hospital portfolio.
Nine years after paying $1.325B, Mallinckrodt sold Therakos to CVC for $925M to reduce net debt by over 60%, suggesting the original acquisition price did not…
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Mallinckrodt acquired Therakos from The Gores Group for approximately $1.325B, adding the global leader in autologous immune cell therapy via extracorporeal photopheresis. Closed September 28, 2015. Mallinckrodt later divested Therakos to CVC Capital for $925M (2021).
Assessment window: 5yr post-close.
3K US cases/yr · $190M Therakos FY2015 net sales guidance ($185-195M)
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is a rare group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas of skin-homing T cells, with mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome being the most common subtypes. CTCL is incurable in advanced stages, runs an indolent-to-aggressive course, and disproportionately affects men, non-Hispanic Black patients, and adults over 40. Therakos extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is the only FDA-approved cell-based immunotherapy for the palliative treatment of CTCL skin manifestations refractory to other therapies, and is also used off-label for chronic GvHD and solid-organ transplant rejection.
The CTCL therapeutic landscape at the time of the 2015 acquisition was a fragmented mix of skin-directed therapies (topical mechlorethamine/Valchlor, bexarotene/Targretin gel, phototherapy), systemic agents (oral bexarotene, methotrexate, interferon, romidepsin/Istodax, vorinostat/Zolinza, pralatrexate/Folotyn), and Therakos extracorporeal photopheresis as the dominant cell-based modality. Therakos's UVAR XTS and CELLEX systems represented a unique drug-device combination with no direct competitors on the ECP platform, giving Mallinckrodt a category-of-one asset with strong recurring consumables revenue. Adjacent and subsequent entrants reshaped the broader CTCL market: Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin, Seattle Genetics/Takeda) gained CTCL approval for CD30+ MF/pcALCL in 2017, and Poteligeo (mogamulizumab, Kyowa Kirin) was approved in 2018 for relapsed/refractory MF and Sézary syndrome, eroding some of ECP's positioning in advanced disease. Mallinckrodt subsequently divested Therakos to CVC Capital Partners for $925M in December 2024, recouping a fraction of original deal value.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mallinckrodt plc / Therakos, Inc. (this deal) | 2015 | $1.3B | 48 |
| Mallinckrodt plc / Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2014 | $1.4B | 50 |
| Mallinckrodt plc / Ikaria, Inc. | 2015 | $2.3B | 37 |
| Mallinckrodt plc / Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2017 | $1.2B | 19 |
| Mallinckrodt plc / Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2014 | $5.6B | 18 |
| Mallinckrodt plc / InfaCare Pharmaceutical Corporation | 2017 | $425M | 12 |
| Amgen Inc. / Micromet Inc. | 2012 | $1.2B | 88 |
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