HQ Team
August 7, 2024: Danish biotechnology company, Pharmacosmos A/S will buy US-based G1 Therapeutics Inc., for $405 million to expand its global commercial portfolio in haematology.
Pharmacosmos, through its US subsidiary, Pharmacosmos Therapeutics Inc., will acquire all outstanding shares of G1 Therapeutics common stock for $7.15 per share in cash, according to a G1 Therapeutics statement.
The share price represents a 68% premium to G1’s closing share price on August 6, 2024, and a 133% premium to G1’s prior 30-day volume weighted average price. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024.
G1’s trilaciclib, branded as Cosela, is the first and only product approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to decrease the incidence of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression in adult patients, according to the statement.
Commercical reach
The dosage is administered before a platinum-etoposide-containing regimen or topotecan-containing regimen for treating patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC).
“Together, the combined company will be able to optimize the commercial reach to oncologists and expand the availability of Cosela among patients living with ES-SCLC,” according to the statement.
“G1 and Pharmacosmos have a shared commitment to people living with cancer,” said Jack Bailey, Chief Executive Officer of G1 Therapeutics.
“The transaction announced today will enable a more rapid uptake of COSELA into the ES-SCLC market to maximize availability for patients who need this important drug.”
‘Fits very nicely’
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women, accounting for about one-fifth of all cancer deaths.
Lung cancer is broadly split into non-small cell lung cancer and small-cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the lung.
Each year there are an estimated 2.4 million people diagnosed with lung cancer globally, with 80-85% of patients diagnosed with NSCLC, the most common form of lung cancer.
Cosela fitted “very nicely” together with Pharmacosmos A/S’s lead product Monoferric, ferric derisomaltose, said Tobias S. Christensen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pharmacosmos A/S.
Iron deficiency
“While Monoferric is available around the World, Cosela is so far only approved in the US and in China.
“It will be a focus for us to bring this important product to more patients both in the US and worldwide to help minimize the number of lung cancer patients suffering from myelosuppression after chemotherapy.”
Pharmacosmos A/S, headquartered in Holbaek, Denmark, and founded in 1965, develops treatments for patients suffering from iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia.
After the completion of the transaction, G1’s common stock will no longer be publicly listed.
